Of Heroes and Monsters
by Yiuceht
Summary: Pariah at birth. Dead-last in his class by seven. Shinobi-dropout by nine. Mercenary by ten. S-rank in the Bingo Book by twelve. Ex-terrorist by thirteen. International criminal by fourteen. They say the road of life is full of twists and turns...
1. Prologue(1): Of Uzumaki Naruto, part 1

_**This world is a world of heroes and monsters.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _The wind is howling._

 _Snowflakes dance across a landscape of ash and ice. A jet black void fills the sky. Grey storm clouds rumble overhead. Snow and soot smother a forest of stone, the scent of faded embers clinging to charcoal and cinder._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **To most, the monsters are the Creatures of Grimm, terrible beings who seem to exist with no purpose other than to destroy. No one knows much about these creatures, neither where they come from nor what drives them to hunt man and his creations.**_

 _ **But we know one thing for sure.**_

 _ **These things are the enemy.**_

 _ **They are the encroaching darkness, seeking to drown this world in a tide of death and destruction.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _A bundle of rags flees through the thickets of long dead trees._

 _Thin clouds of smoky white take to the air behind him. His frenzied sprint gouges a trail of tiny footsteps into the snow. Frigid air fills his lungs. With every desperate breath, a numbness burrows deeper and deeper into his chest._

 _The cold fills him. A deathly chill settles in his stomach._

 _Behind him, the dead forest trembles._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **Yet, where there is shadow, there must also be light.**_

 _ **The 'brave' Huntsmen and Huntresses of Remnant play this role, sacrificing life and limb in their never-ending crusade against the Creatures of Grimm.**_

 _ **Unlike the reclusive Shinobi, loyal first and foremost to their hidden villages, and unlike the mysterious Sages, secluded and fiercely devoted to their ancient traditions, these warriors of dust, of aura and of steel are the defenders of this world. Each wielding their own unique Semblance, they form the pillars of society, the shields against which the tides of darkness break.**_

 _ **They are the 'good' to the 'evil' of the Grimm.**_

…

 **-0-0**

 _Flakes of white fall from blackened branches. Frozen charcoal crumbles to dust._

 _The land buckles in the wake of the shadow's approach._

 _He flees from the advancing tremors, fear pumping blood through already frozen veins. A hidden patch of ice catches his step. His foot skids but he manages to recover, shambling forward and never breaking his stride._

 _The ground makes a sudden slope downward. Another step shakes the earth._

 _This time he does trip._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **Every kid dreams of growing up to be one of them, of being the brave hero fighting the evil monsters, protecting the innocent and saving the day.**_

 _ **Even I did, once upon a time.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _He falls, tumbling, rolling through mounds of ice and snow and ash, at last coming to a stop at the base of the hill._

 _Snow engulfs him in a sea of soft white. Invisible chains bind his limbs. Frozen still, the cold saps the last embers of warmth from his body. It bites through cloth, piercing his chest, freezing solid his still-beating heart._

 _He can hear it, a whisper on the shrieking winds._

 **Sleep** _, it says._ **Entrust your heart to me and sleep.**

 **Sleep and forever dream pleasant dreams.**

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **Unfortunately, I found out pretty quickly I wasn't good enough to be any kind of hero.**_

 _ **Any weapon in my hands was more of a threat to me than it was to any grimm.**_

 _ **The only thing I could do with dust was make it blow up in my face.**_

 _ **And by the end of my third year of combat training, I still hadn't even figured out how to unlock my aura.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _The ground shakes. White and grey break as he claws his way back to the surface._

 _Snow and soot and ash cling to his tattered cloak. The hood falls back to reveal a head of wild blond hair, bright like the rays of the morning sun._

 _Three whisker-like scars mark both of his cheeks, his skin pale but not too pale, bright with the flush of exhaustion._

 _Once the same warm blue as a midsummer's sky, once bright with a child's innocence, his gaze bites colder than ice, a mirrored reflection of the frozen wasteland surrounding him._

 _The weight of his gaze and the scars on his face lend him a certain air of maturity. But the softness along his cheeks and jawline betrays his true age, his stature childish and his skin otherwise smooth and free of wrinkles._

 _It is but a boy, a lone child, who finds himself lost in this dead land._

 _The child crawls back to his feet. He pulls his cloak tighter around him, first stumbling and then running once more as a shadow eclipses the horizon._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **It wasn't a surprise.**_

 _ **No real family, friends or skills or talent to speak of, I was the kind of person you'd only hear about because they got themselves killed trying to do something stupidly heroic.**_

 _ **As morbid as that is…**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _There is no real reason for it. No noble desire or lofty ideals. Rather than call it iron will, childish stubbornness is a more apt description._

 _Because in this forsaken place, even if there is no life, no warmth, no light, even if he is all that remains in this wasteland, buried in ash and smothered in snow, he refuses to vanish and disappear._

 _He refuses to give up and fade away._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **Ah, I forgot to introduce myself!**_

 _ **The name's Uzumaki Naruto! Or Naruto Uzumaki, I guess, if you're from the Kingdoms. It's always a pain, having to remember to switch back and forth. Kind of like having two names.**_

 _ **Yeah… there are a couple other names I have back home and in the Kingdoms.**_

 _ **But those aren't too pleasant. So I'll keep them to myself for now.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _The tremors advance. At last it comes into view, a light at the end of the tunnel. An escape leading out of this forest of death._

 _One last push; Gathering all of his strength, he breaks out from the tree line-!_

 _And finds nothing._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **My motto has always been "Never give up and never back down!"**_

 _ **That… it's how I know, someday, I'll break.**_

 _ **And whether I shatter to pieces in an instant or slowly grind away into dust, I know the day will surely come.**_

 _ **I just hope it isn't too much of a hassle for whoever is left picking up the pieces.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _Dark waters dominate the horizon._

 _Churning and trashing, a black sea extends for as far as the eye can see._

 _He falls to his knees, watching in horror as a clump of snow plummets off the cliff, into the crashing waves below._

 _The ground shakes one last time and a shadow falls over him._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **I'm no hero.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _Its presence appears without warning, descending on him, crushing him like an ant caught in a thunderstorm._

 _He turns with the draw of a rusted wheel, as if the air has turned to syrup. He turns and looks up._

 _And up._

 _And up._

 _And up._

 _It towers above him, tall enough to dwarf the sky and blot out the horizon._

 _Steam shrouds its form, ice melting and evaporating into mist on contact with the darkness, wisps of smoke wafting off jet-black fur._

 _Jagged lines glow with crimson light, tribal marks joining and splitting off in a form vaguely reminiscent of flickering flames._

 _Pools of molten fury leer at him from behind a mask darker than midnight. Nine tails whips and thrash in its wake, leveling the forest and crushing the earth beneath it._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **In another place, another time, I might have been. But the me here and now can't be considered a hero by any means.**_

 _ **So I have no idea why anyone would care to read a story about me.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _In front of him looms a monster of monsters. A demon the likes of which can just as easily breathe him in as eat him. Behind him is the vast endlessness of the sea whose waters can swallow him just as easily as the monster before him._

 _Death surrounds him and he faces a choice._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **But… well, let's say for the sake of argument.**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _If he stays, the demon will kill him quickly and without any suffering. All he has to do is close his eyes and it will be over before he even knows it._

 _But the sea… even if he somehow survives the fall, he still doesn't know how to swim. There was never anyone to teach him. He will have to learn to swim or die a painful, pitiful death trying._

 _A quick death, certain and painless. Or the slightest chance of survival, a gamble against insurmountable odds._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **If you were to write a story about me… someone like me in this world of heroes and monsters…**_

…

 **-0-0-**

 _An odd noise escapes his lips. Some strange sort of sound, caught between a scoff and a chuckle._

 _As if it was ever even a choice._

…

 **-0-0-**

 _ **Without a doubt, it'd definitely be a tragedy.**_

 **-0-0-**

 _A roar shakes the heavens. And the child plunges into the freezing abyss below._

…

…

… _  
_

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Chapter 1: Of Uzumaki Naruto

* * *

Thud, thud.

Thud, thud.

Weary blue eyes crack open to a faint, almost rhythmic thudding.

They blink slow and with the exhaustion of an interrupted rest. Shadows flash by, the unforgiving rays of the afternoon sun stabbing into his retinas like a salvo of tiny daggers, condemning him for daring to sleep at this hour.

Another blink. He rubs his cheeks. Wipes a bit of drool from his chin. The sting of more than a few restless nights turns his tired gaze into a squinted glare as he looks around, searching for the source of the noise, finding it to be the ceiling above him.

Thud, thud. Thud, thud. The other occupants of the train all fail to notice the sounds coming from above, from the roof of the train cart. Two columns of seats flank a rather spacious walkway, as though someone decided to stick a couple seats in a cargo train for whatever reason.

He scratches his head, digging his fingers into a greying-blond mop of wild spikes, a single stray hair sticking up off the top of his head, the faintest traces of gold still present among the white.

Hmm…? This is…

With that, he remembers. He remembers the reason why he is on a train in _Atlas_ of all places, the Kingdom most infamous for its intolerance of all things faunus and faunus-related.

It maybe a bit of an exaggeration. But seeing as how the seat next to him is empty, as are most of the seats around him, the majority of the train's occupants huddled at the front and back ends of the train as though trying to stay as far away as possible from the whisker-like markings on his cheeks…

Well, he can't help but think there may be some truth to those rumors about Remnant's most militarized Kingdom.

Then again, considering _why_ he's here in Atlas to begin with, it's not really fair to be judging them so harshly.

Leaning back, he slumps back into his seat. His gaze wonders about the train, searching for anything noteworthy.

A man in a suit taps at a PDA with clear annoyance.

A little girl draws on a napkin.

And a faunus hiding two, fluffy, dog ears beneath a hood glares at the suited man, whispering something into his jacket.

More thuds appear, like raindrops or some kind of gravel or debris falling on the roof of the train cart.

But raindrops don't land in pairs. And they don't cast shadows over the mountainside either.

The train jolts. He lets out a sigh. His eyes close.

"About time…"

It begins with the sound of someone kicking in the door.

"Nobody move!"

Next comes the screaming. The shouts. Footsteps stomp down the walkway. Men and women rush into the car, all with some sort of animal trait, be it ears or horns or a tail, faunus all wearing the same uniforms consisting of plain black clothes and grey body armor with a plated mask covering the top halves of their faces, the masks somewhat reminiscent of the shadowy beasts plaguing the lands of Remnant.

Sort of. Maybe if you squint hard enough.

"Put your hands up!" a voice shouts in his ear. He peeks one eye open to find the business end of a shotgun inches from his face.

"Are you listening to me?!" the White Fang grunt yells, his voice cracking only a little. "I said put your hands up!"

He gives the faunus a tired blink, one eye not quite closing as fast as the other.

"So loud…" he moans in a sleepy half-drawl, rubbing his eyes. "Don't you know it's rude to be making so much noise when someone's trying to sleep?"

The faunus gives him a confused look. "Sleep? Why're you asleep at 3 in the afternoon?"

"Well," he tilts his head in thought. "I'm _reeeally_ lazy."

The faunus gaps. Another masked faunus, this one wielding a katana, comes to the aid of his comrade.

"Hey, what's going on new guy? What's the hold up?"

"This guy, he's-"

Another tired blink. Sleepy blue eyes widen. "Wait a second! That boring outfit… those stupid-looking masks… you guys are the White Fang!"

Both White Fang members share a glance, finding themselves in agreement with the description, much to their chagrin.

Clad in an orange hoodie, black shorts and sandals, the fifteen-year old, Naruto Uzumaki, rises from his seat. Slouching a good foot shorter than both of his accosters, he glances around the train.

Four White Fang grunts stand at the front of the train, arguing amongst themselves. Two more stand guard at the back. Adding the two in front of him, that makes for a total of eight grunts, all for a single, unguarded, civilian transport.

Interesting. He returns his gaze to the White Fang grunt with the gun.

"Mmm… so I'm guessing you're supposed to be a bear faunus," Naruto says, noting the furry, round ears poking out from the hood of the faunus. Then, he looks towards the newcomer. "But what the hell are you supposed to be?"

"… That's not important."

"Heh, you're something stupid like a donkey, aren't you?"

"It doesn't matter!" the donkey faunus shouts, indignation and shame coloring his cheeks. "Just put your hands up before I cut you!"

Naruto blinks. He perks a brow. "Are you guys… trying to mug me?"

"Are you really _just now_ noticing this?!"

"Yeah, I mean," Naruto shrugs. "You guys _are_ kind of doing a pretty crappy job at it."

The White Fang grunts still. They stand in stunned silence as both try and fail to comprehend that yes, the unarmed teenager they are trying to mug is indeed telling them that they are doing a bad job at mugging him.

"You're both doing a couple things wrong," Naruto says, his tone casual, almost lecturing. "First, those masks suck. They make you look like your only purpose is to make someone else look good when they kick your ass."

"See, I told you these masks looked lame…" the first grunt says to the other.

"It's part of the uniform!" the second grunt snaps. "Besides, they're supposed to look like grimm masks!"

"Your bosses actually _want_ you guys to look like a bunch of disposable mooks?"

"Hey, who're you calling a disposable mook?! That's not what it's supposed to mean! It's supposed to symbolize how humanity treats us faunus like monsters so we put on these masks to look like the grimm since that's how people treat us!"

Something flickers across Naruto's face, something dark and ugly. He hides it with a quick smirk. "… You know there's a video of some dude's dog beating the crap out of a Beowolf."

"Oh hey, I saw that video. It's the one with the corgi, right?"

"There's one with a corgi?"

"Shut up! Who cares what the masks look like!" the White Fang grunt says, brandishing his katana. "You wanna get cut, kid? Cause that's what's going to happen if you don't start listening to us right now!"

"Oh yeah, that's another thing. Neither of you are using your weapons right. For a katana, you want to put your hand here, like that."

"Hey, what are you doing?!" the grunt pulls his hand back and brandishes the katana. "You….! You…"

He pauses. The anger drains out of him like a deflated balloon and he looks to his sword arm. "Huh, it really is a lot better."

Naruto resists the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he shoves his hands into his hoodie's pockets, sighs and looks to the other grunt with a flat gaze.

"And _you_ forgot to turn the safety off," he says in a dry tone.

Grunt #1 looks to his gun in confusion. He points it to the side and tries to fire. A click. The trigger catches. Grunt #2 slaps a hand against his mask.

This time Naruto does roll his eyes.

The incompetence of fodder and mooks the world over never fails to baffle him. Honestly, it's like taking candy from a baby. The sheer scope of their uselessness is almost enough to make him feel guilty about doing this.

Almost.

"Here, I'll get it for you," Naruto says, putting his hand on the gun. "But honestly? The biggest mistake you guys made?"

A sharp crack, like fracturing ice, comes from beneath the whiskered boy's palm. The grunt blinks as the gun in his hands falls to pieces, cut and sliced to pieces from the inside out.

"Trying to mug _me_."

A fist slams into the grunt's jaw.

The blow comes like thunder, heard and felt only after the fact, launching the grunt off his feet and into the seats on the other side of the train. Naruto turns to the second grunt. It takes a moment. The gears begin to turn and the grunt's brain finally manages to solve the puzzle of why the form of his partner has been replaced by that of a smoking fist.

"Why you-!"

The response comes in a snarl and a flail of his katana. Naruto graces the oncoming blade with a dismissive glance, as if it is no more than a plastic toy swung by a small child.

He catches the blade between his fingers. The blade shatters, veins of frost coating the broken edges of the folded steel. A knee to the gut causes the grunt to double over. Naruto grabs the back of the faunus's shirt, hurling him into the ceiling, the White Fang grunt bouncing off the top of the train car and hitting the floor with a dull thud.

The two White Fang grunts at the back aim their guns at the whiskered boy. Frigid blue eyes fall on them. Their fingers twitch, about to pull the trigger when-

 _Death._

 _A single knife, thrown with all the force of a bullet fired from a gun, piercing their aura, impaling their mask and burying deep into their brains-_

 _A punch that causes their heart and lungs to burst like blood-filled balloons-_

 _A kick shattering their spine, scrambling their intestines, puncturing their stomach-_

-their bodies freeze in abject fear at the gruesome images flooding their minds. The guns drop from their hands and the White Fang grunts fall limp to the floor, both foaming at the mouth.

Naruto blinks, staring at the two masked faunus. He scratches his cheek.

"Er… whoops?"

His hand snaps out behind him, grabbing the face of a grunt about to swing at him with a katana. Turning, he hurls the grunt into the window, the back of the faunus's head cracking against the treated glass.

"Right, forgot you guys are just a bunch of idiots in Halloween masks," Naruto says with a sleepy expression. "Sorry about that."

Only three remain. Clustered together, the last of the still-conscious White Fang grip their katanas, wearily approaching the boy who just took out over half their squad in less than half a minute.

He raises a hand. A ghostly, ethereal flame flickers to life over his palm.

Three chains of golden light spout from the flame, wrapping around each of the grunts' ankles.

Naruto throws his arm up. The chains follow his movements, slamming the grunts against the ceiling. He lets his arm fall. The grunts hit the floor. Repeating the motion a few times for good measure he dispels the chains, the aura constructs dispersing into motes of flittering aura.

The flame again sparks to life in his palm, this time taking the shape of a tri-pronged knife with a flat edge.

Knives and chains, knives and chains. It's strange, the ways those two shapes always seem to come so naturally whenever he shapes his aura.

Shame he's always sucked at aiming.

The dog-eared faunus trembles as frigid blue eyes fall on him. His cover blown, he goes for the receiver in his jacket, trying to contact the Lieutenant, trying to send a warning to his brothers and sisters in arms.

A flash of gold slices the head off the communications device, the tri-pronged knife going into and through the seat and the seat behind that and the seat behind that, vanishing back into aura before it comes to a stop.

"Tch, missed."

The faunus pales.

"Oh, no I wasn't going for the headshot," Naruto is quick to explain. He pokes a finger into his palm. "Yeah, I kind of wanted it to do that thing where it stabs you through the palm and pin your hand to the seat."

"THAT'S NOT MUCH BETTER!"

An unforgiving grip rips him from his seat, dragging him to the back of the train. Beneath the train, over the train tracks, looms a good kilometer drop to the forests below. One the white-haired boy gives him a _very_ good look at.

"So, I'm looking for a guy, kind of big, built like a bear, might actually be a bear faunus but I'm not too sure," Naruto says as he dangles the plain-clothed, White Fang grunt over the rails.

He scratches his cheek. "Hmm? What was his name again? I've never been good with names…"

"Guh-ack! L-leme go!"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

The train turns a bend. The faunus almost screams as he feels the train's momentum tugging at him, attempting to throw him into open air.

"I'll do anything! Please! I'll tell you whatever you want, just pull me back!"

Naruto smiles.

He drops the White Fang grunt back onto the floor, allowing him a brief moment of rest. A moment he uses to try and crawl away. Before the faunus can even get back to his feet, a foot stomps on his back, pinning him in place.

"That's something that's always annoyed me about you guys," Naruto says, crimson flashing across his eyes. "You know… other than the screwing with peaceful protests… and the stealing… and the killing… and the general… terrorism."

He tilts his head. Perks a brow. And shrugs. "Anyway, point is, if you're all so willing, so _eager_ , to kill other people for the sake of your 'cause', you should at least have the guts to not run away the moment someone turns the table on you."

"But I guess that _is_ the reason they always send one of the real members to oversee your operations."

"And that is who I'm looking for," He crouches down, pressing his knee against the faunus's back, grabbing a fistful of hair and yanking a dog ear up to his lips. "Now, little doggy, why don't you tell me where your master is?"

"H-heh-"

A forced laugh comes from the faunus.

"You think you're strong just because you beat up a couple of foot soldiers?" he jeers through the pain. "Well, you're not! You're nothing! Call us all the names you want, because once the Lieutenant takes control of this train-!"

"Oh, so he is here! Great!"

The White Fang grunt gapes when Naruto steps off him with a cheerful hop. The white-haired boy turns back to the faunus with a happy grin. "I was soooo~ worried! What if I got on the wrong train? Or what if you guys called off the job for some stupid thing or another? It really was a pain, tracking you guys down, waiting for an opportunity like this."

"… What?"

"You see, your boss and your boss's boss have pissed off a lot of people," Naruto explains, crouching down to look the faunus in the eye. "A-LOT of people. People in high places. People with big money. People who know people who know people _like me_."

"And those people? They couldn't care less about rank and file like you. They know there's plenty more where you come from. Buuut, they're offering a pretty penny for anyone who can really hit you White Fang stooges where it _hurts_."

The White Fang grunt blanches. He stares with disbelief at the boy maybe half his age. "Who… _What_ are you?"

Naruto sighs, as though disappointed.

"Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't recognize me without the mask. Honestly, nobody cares until I put on the stupid mask."

He holds a hand over his face. As if it was always there, hidden behind some kind of illusion, a bone white mask phases into existence.

A mask identical to the masks of the shadowy beasts that plague the lands of Remnant. A mask styled in the image of a three-eyed fox.

He pushes up his mask to give the faunus another look at his face, an unhinged grin stretched across his whiskered cheeks.

"Y-y-y-y-yy-you're-!"

" **How about it? Recognize me now?"**

The faunus hurls himself out the back of the train.

"Now that's just overly dramatic…" Naruto deadpans, tossing the mask over the side of the rails. He turns back to the train. His eyes scan the passengers, searching for the puzzle's second missing piece.

There. He points a finger at the well-dressed man.

"You, suit guy."

"Suit guy? How rude! My name is-!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't bother," Naruto interrupts with a wave of his hand, "No one cares about your name, anyway. But is there anything too dangerous hidden on this train? Like a cargo of dust or secret weapon hidden further up?"

"The only dangerous _thing_ on this train is _you_ ," suit guy sneers with all of the feigned innocence of a business man trying to deflect the blame.

"Riiight," Naruto rolls his eyes, "Am I going to have to give you the same treatment as Mr. Doggy?"

Suit guy sniffs at him. "Your tactless intimidation and hollow threats may work on animals like the faunus, but I assure you, no man of any self-worth would give in to such brutish tactics."

Naruto perks a brow.

-a few moments later-

"AAAAAHHHHHHH-"

A scream echoes out the back of train.

"Sure holding someone over a ledge isn't the most original idea ever but I don't exactly have that much to work with here," Naruto grumbles.

"I mean, I suck at genjutsu. And I'm not the biggest fan of cold-blooded torture either. You know how it goes. When all you've got is a nail, anything can be a hammer… or something like that."

Another scream is the response. Naruto gives Suit Guy a dry stare.

"Alright, you have four seconds to start talking," he says, giving the man's leg a good wiggle to get his attention. "One…"

Naruto lifts his pinky. And the man squeals.

"It's an armor!" he cries out. "It's a prototype suit of armor, developed by the Schnee Dust Company!"

Naruto perks a brow. "An armor? Here I was under the impression you guys in the Kingdoms only cared for stabby things that transform into guns… where'd you get the idea for something like an armor?"

"It-," Suit Guy's eyes dart side to side, as if searching for something. Like a scapegoat. "It was the Ruling Council of Atlas! The general ordered us to-"

Whatever he is about to say dies on his lips as an image pierces his mind, a vision of himself being torn apart by a herd of rabid grimm.

"Kay, you can stop talking now," Naruto says, clamping down on the man's leg, feeling the bone creek and strain. "Now, developing a superweapon during peacetime isn't something I'd put past ol' General Morningwood, but if he _was_ , you know he'd be flashing it all over the streets of Atlas, whipping it out in public so he could brag about how awesome it is."

He pauses a moment to ponder if he should reconsider his wording. A shrug.

"But he isn't. So that means you're lying. I don't like liars. Especially liars who try to hide behind a shield of civilians."

"So," frigid blues narrow, a coldness in his gaze that could cut through steel. "One more chance."

"It…" a gulp. "It was designed to mimic the power of the Second Stage Jinchuuriki Cloak."

That coldness drops a few more degrees. For a moment, he wonders if he should have taken his chances with the fall. The moment is short-lived, however as he is thrown back onto the train.

"Who knows?"

"O-only Jacques Schnee and the people hired to work on the project! I was only brought in to transport it!"

"Where."

"I don't know… there are supposed to be two exchanges after this next stop…"

The boy's lips thin into a frown. His eyes narrow and drift away in thought, a burning crimson creeping across his iris. It appears for only an instant, like a dark flame burning away at the veneer of coldness, before that coldness reasserts itself and those frigid blues fall back on him.

"I'm destroying that armor, whether or not the White Fang has got their hands on it," Naruto declares. He moves to return to the train car, only to pause and glance back at the man.

"You might want to _advise_ your boss to keep away from this whole 'replicating a Jinchuuriki's power' business. Tell him to stick to his dust and his transforming guns. Because the easiest way to get a Jinchuuriki's power is to make one. And people aren't as easily fixed as machines once they break."

With that, Naruto steps back into the train car, his mood soured and his mind awhirl.

An undercurrent of fear sweeps throughout the passengers with his return. Hushed whispers fill the air. Harsh stares follow his footsteps. They try their hardest to ignore his existence, as if pretending he isn't there might actually make him go away.

How nostalgic.

Nowadays, he usually needs his mask to get that kind of a reaction. Not like when he was a child. Not like when those stares were still so cold and painful. Even now, it'd be a lie to say he can ignore them completely. There are some things a person can just never get used to. But there are more important things to worry about.

More than retrieving his bounty, dealing with that armor has top priority. While he has nothing to fear from someone like the White Fang Lieutenant obtaining such a weapon, there are others among the White Fang's ranks who he _will_ have to worry about if they manage to get their hands on something like that.

Naruto muffles a sigh. Another day, another train wreck of a mission. Well, a metaphorical train wreck.

Hopefully it doesn't become an actual train wreck.

A tug on his pants pulls him from his thoughts. Naruto looks down to find the little girl from earlier, standing atop the groaning body of one of the White Fang grunts.

"Hey, mister. Where'd the dog guy go?"

"He broke the rules and brought some bad things onto the train, so I made him go bye-bye."

"Ooh…" the little girl nods in perfect understanding. "Who are you mister? Are you a huntsman?"

Naruto perks a brow. A wry grin makes its way across his cheeks and he pats her on the head.

"Not quite, girlie. Try aiming a bit more on the other side of the fence."

The door closes behind him with a rusty squeak. He steps out of the train car, the mountain face speeding past him on one side and dusk eclipsing the sky on the other. Rushing winds tug at his hair. Wheels screech against the tracks. His gaze drifts from the horizon awash in crimson to the forest below, the color of flame beginning to creep into the sea of greenery.

"Summer's coming to an end, huh…"

An explosion of smoke engulfs his entire form.

Orange melts into black and white. His shorts become a pair of black pants, taped off at the ankles. Black combat boots replace the lazy sandals. And his hoodie becomes a ragged, white haori over a black undershirt.

It is nothing too fancy, nothing particularly unique. A kind of lazy outfit one could probably throw together with some change to spare. By themselves, the clothes don't speak to anything aside from their wearer being ready for a fight.

The mask appears in his hand with only a thought. It is the final piece to the puzzle. The symbol that gives the black and white meaning. A three-eyed mask styled in the image of a fox, the markings upon its face no different than those of the shadowy beasts plaguing Remnant.

As they should be, after all. Putting aside the differences in species and other superficial details, the only difference between those masks and this mask is that this mask isn't attached to the face of some grimm.

Naruto fits the mask onto his face. Places a hand on the door to the next train car.

Light and darkness. Flame and shadow. He can see it in his mind's eye, a nine petal spiral kept bound by nine chains.

It is like loosening a tap. Ever so slightly, the spiral begins to unravel. Golden embers escape out from behind the seal. Aura floods his body, the warmth spreading from his core, strength and vigor surging through his veins.

"Now then." Blue eyes burn gold and look to the next train car. "Let's try this again."

The door shatters inward.

Four sets of eyes turn, a small squadron of masked faunus occupying the walkway, standing between him and the next car. All armed. All holding those arms like complete amateurs.

Wind swirls about his feet. Aura gathers in his legs.

 _Burst._

He closes the distance in a single step, planting his foot into the chest of one of the White Fang grunts, his momentum launching the grunt over the remaining length of the walkway. A quick punch to the jaw downs a second grunt. A fist to the back of the head drops the third.

The fourth manages to finally get a glimpse of their attacker.

"E-EEEEEEEEEEE-!"

The moment his eyes see the three-eyed fox mask, he lets out a shriek, throwing down his weapon and fleeing as though the shadow of death itself were on his tail.

He gets to the end of the walkway before a hand grabs the back of his head and slams him face-first into the door. The grunt slumps to the floor and Naruto steps over his unconscious body, out this train car and into the next.

Each squad in each of the next three carts meet the same fate. The masked boy carves through the ranks of the White Fang on his way to the front of the train, where he finds a windowless passenger car labeled 'VIP'.

Naruto takes a moment to inspect the ruined door.

A deep gouge runs along its hinges, the grooves and tears in the metal as though someone took a chainsaw to it.

"Yep, that guy's probably here," he concludes. A lazy kick sends the door crashing down.

Light pours into the train car. He steps through the doorway, eyes shifting side to side in the darkness.

"I heard the guy's name was 'Banesaw', but that seems a bit too much like calling a duck a duck," he mutters to himself. "Doesn't exactly fit the Kingdom's naming convention either…"

"Though, I guess I'm not exactly one to talk…"

Through heavy shadows, he makes out the shapes of the weapons lining the walls, the reinforced crates of dust stacked along the floor. A certain emblem is visible on each and every box, an emblem known to him and just about every other person in Remnant.

A white snowflake.

"The Schnee Dust Company…" his gaze drifts from the boxes to the various weaponry hanging from the walls, all of which he's sure can turn into some sort of gun. "This is…"

He feels the bloodlust long before he hears the rev of the chainsaw. Naruto flips away as whirling teeth bite into the spot he was just standing in a shower of sparks.

" _ **YOU!"**_ a roar comes from the shadows.

The speaker emerges from the darkness, a giant easily head and shoulders above the masked boy. His entire body ripples with slabs of muscle. Trunk-like arms carry a chainsaw almost as tall, if not taller, than Naruto himself. With crashing steps, the White Fang Lieutenant emerges from the depths of the train car, beady, black eyes glaring from behind a custom, full-face, grimm mask.

"I've been waiting for this day, for a _long_ time, Uzumaki! Or should I say, the **White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox**!"

Naruto blinks, only seeing a hazy shadow in the darkness. His mask hides a questioning look.

"… Have we met before? Who are you?"

The Lieutenant twitches. Maybe from indignation. Maybe from mind-numbing rage. Or both.

"It was a mistake for Adam to think some _human_ could ever understand our cause," the giant faunus growls. "Three years ago, you betrayed us and saved the Schnee! For three years, you've owed the White Fang a debt, and today it's getting paid in blood!"

"I don't know if 'saved' is really the word that should go there…"

The Lieutenant charges him. Naruto slips out of the way of a swing, the Lieutenant wielding the modified chainsaw like a greatsword. He dodges another slash from the chain-sword, swift steps keeping him out of the path of the whirling, iron teeth.

The chainsaw is little more than a faint blur of motion in the shadows. The echo of its engine bounces about the train car, the reverberations making tracking the weapon by sound all but impossible. Yet still, Naruto reacts to each of the Lieutenant's swings without hesitation, keeping himself out of the way of the path of the whirling teeth.

It's like reading from a book. The faunus's thirst for blood telegraphs his every move. Naruto rolls under a grab, stabbing a golden knife into the back of the Lieutenant's thigh. The wind-enhanced edge of aura slices through the faunus's aura with ease, biting deep into flesh.

A crash. The Lieutenant falls to a knee. With a roar, he forces himself back to his feet, swinging the modified chainsaw with reckless abandonment.

' _His leg shouldn't be able to hold any weight with a wound like that,'_ Naruto thinks, weaving through the onslaught of powerful but clumsy swings. _'Is it just his aura… or maybe, a semblance…?'_

Every person has a semblance, a physical manifestation of their aura. From super speed to super strength to x-ray vision and controlling fire, each person's semblance is said to be a reflection of some aspect of their personality, with a few notable exceptions. And while most prefer to simply incorporate this power into their fighting styles, there are some who prefer to keep their semblance secret to use it as a trump card and fewer still whose semblance would hinder them in a fight.

He, unfortunately, happens to belong to the later category. And while he is somewhat worried Lieutenant 'Banesaw' happens to belong to the second… even a semblance can't make up for an overwhelming, overpowering, absolute difference in power.

Golden flames engulf his hand. He plants his feet. The chainsaw falls in an overhead swing to cleave him from shoulder to hip.

Naruto catches the swing.

The floor bends beneath his feet. The force sets his haori aflutter. The engine of the chainsaw screeches and sputters as the teeth try and fail to chew through the fiery aura engulfing his hand. For a moment, the Lieutenant stares in disbelief, the masked boy holding back his chain-blade with no visible effort.

"A debt?" the boy asks. The metal begins to bend and fold beneath his grip. "What are you talking about? I _did_ fulfill my contract."

A sharp crack. The 'blade' of the modified chainsaw shatters, the belt sliced to shreds, the metal cut and splintered. The Lieutenant's eyes widen. He discards the now-useless handle, throwing all of his weight behind a punch at the smaller fighter.

With the same ease that he caught the chain-blade, Naruto catches the punch. He lifts the Lieutenant off his feet, the masked boy swinging the giant faunus through the air, slamming him into the floor, swinging him overhead again and slamming him against the floor again, and again, and again, and again, imprinting the shape of the Lieutenant's body into the floor before hurling him into a crate.

"I agreed to bring her to you," Naruto explains, his tone almost as casual as his stride as he approaches the faunus. "Never said anything about what happens after that."

The Lieutenant growls, throwing out another punch. It finds only empty air. A fist promptly buries itself into his solar plexus, doubling him over. A hand grabs the back of his neck. A knee smashes into his mask. The hand throws him upward, the ceiling stopping his flight and the floor catching his fall.

A groan escapes out from under his mask as the faunus pushes himself off the floor.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure the deal was for you to 'hold her for ransom' and not 'execute her to make a statement," Naruto says with a shrug. "Bit of a difference there. Just a tiny bit. As far as I'm concerned, you guys are the ones who never compensated _me_ for that bait and switch! Yeah! You fucks owe me money!"

He holds out a hand. "So you are right about one thing. Because, there _is_ a debt that's going to get paid today. And it will be in blood. Any last words?"

"Lieutenant, it's ready!"

A voice and a spray of bullets comes from the shadows. Naruto throws up his arm, channeling aura to his haori, the bullets bouncing off the reinforced cloth. A quick blast of wind throws the hidden White Fang grunt against the wall, knocking them unconscious, the momentary distraction having given the Lieutenant just enough time to scamper back into the shadows.

"Oh no you don't!"

Naruto draws back his arm, wind and aura gathering into a condensed sphere of invisible blades. Before he can release them, his eyes dart to the crates. The rows of crates stacked on top of one another and lining the walls, each full of highly volatile, _very explosive_ dust.

He bites back a curse, crashing the sphere in his hand.

At the very least, he can stop this metaphorical train wreck of a mission from becoming an actual train wreck.

"Alright, you giant bastard…" he growls, stalking further into the shadows. "Better not make me chase your ass down again-"

The hum of electricity fills the train car.

A flash of light blinds him. His instincts scream at him to dodge. Naruto leaps to the side as a giant _something_ rushes past him, force and static tugging at his hair and clothes, the screech of lightning echoing in its wake.

Crackling luminescence pierces the darkness. A great bolt of lightning flies through the air. Naruto prepares to dodge, only for an annoying little voice in the back of his head to remind him just what that lightning is going to hit if he moves.

"Tch-!"

He plants his feet. Anchors himself with aura. Naruto draws back his arms, wind swirling in his palms. And channels all of his frustration into a battle cry as he thrusts his hands forward.

" **FUUUUUUU-** _ **UU-**_ **UUU-!"**

A sound that is definitely _not_ a voice crack is drowned out by the snap and screech of lightning as he catches the blast of electricity. The impact sets his haori aflutter, the heat singing the edges of his sleeves. Digging in his heels, Naruto begins to push back, his wind dispersing the concentrated lightning.

" **-UUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"**

Aura becomes wind. Wind becomes a blade, and that blade slices through the lightning, Naruto throwing his arms apart as he rips the bolt of lightning in two, the electricity dispersing into harmless sparks.

" **UUUCK-!"**

A giant blur of white surges forward.

Naruto's eyes widen.

He just manages to leap back as a steel fist wreathed in lightning bursts from the shadows, slamming into his stomach with all the force of a pickup truck launched from a railgun. The blow turns his insides into mush, only aura and his own quick reactions stopping the lightning-enhanced punch from going straight through him, instead launching him off his feet, through the roof of the train car and into the air behind the speed train.

The tracks serve as his landing track, his spine none-too-gently digging a trench into and through the railway. All but embedded into a hole of his own making, Naruto groans. Smoke wafts from a hole in his shirt, the skin over his stomach bloodied and charred.

"… -uck."

Pushing up his mask, he pulls himself free, rolls over and vomits blood and whatever is left of his lunch onto the tracks.

"Urk…" he wipes his lips and says through ragged breaths. "Feels like… stomach's gone… probably ruptured… everything… ow..."

A shadow falls over him and descends with the crack of thunder. Naruto hurls himself out of the way as lightning and steel fall, blowing a hole through the train tracks. The shockwave throws him back, sending him tumbling across the train tracks.

He catches himself, skidding into a crouch. An electric blue light pierces the cloud of dirt and debris, the glow of a v-shaped visor. A smirk creeps across Naruto's lips and he lowers his mask. "To think I was worried I'd have to chase you down again… but here you are, coming to me."

Gold flares red. "How _considerate_."

An armored titan emerges from the dust.

Sleek, polished steel covers it from head to toe. Blue lightning crackles about its entire form. The curves and edges lend to it an air of a knight's armor. Glowing wires run from a pure white crystal set on its chest to the arms, the legs and to the ox-horned helmet where beady, black eyes glare at him through a v-shaped visor.

Metal fists clench. The crystal of dust glows brighter and brighter, screeching and humming as it pumps who knows how many millions of volts of electricity into the armor. A shroud of lightning engulfs the white knight, forming into… eight tentacles at its back.

Naruto stands, his eyes narrowing. "Eight, huh…"

The White Fang Lieutenant surges forward with a new speed belying his giant size, the armored titan drawing back a fist pulsating with energy. Time slows. One second stretches into five as adrenaline floods his body, his mind racing a mile a minute.

One. He hears the words echo in the back of his mind, alongside the crackle of flames and the rattle of a chain about to give way.

' _ **Kaimon**_ _(Gate of Opening…'_

Two. The armored titan has already crossed half the distance between them, electricity propelling him forward, a giant bolt of white lightning and steel.

 _ **Release.**_

Three. The chain shatters with a sound like falling glass. The warmth flooding his body becomes a heat and that heat ignites a flame, searing strength into his flesh and bone, burning away at his wound.

Four. Snapping white blinds him. He can feel its approach. The static causing his hair to stand on end. Tendrils of electricity licking at his exposed skin. Aura floods his insides, pouring out into the world in a torrent of light and sound, red and yellow and orange erupting into the air, fire pushing back the lightning.

Five.

The metal fist falls, sheathed in a veil of lightning.

A flash of gold meets it, turning it away, a burst of wind blasting the lightning from the armor.

A heatless flame erupts around him. And Naruto can see the Lieutenant's eyes widen beneath the visor as a tail of pure light emerges from behind him.

Another punch comes from the armored knight, this one from the other hand, this one with the same speed and cloak of lightning as the other. Again he intercepts with his tail, wind dispelling the cloak. The armored titan staggers back a step and Naruto draws back his arm, an invisible sphere of blades gathering into his palm.

He leaps forward. Thrusts out his hand. A deafening howl erupts from his palm, a storm of blades engulfing the train tracks, forcing the white knight backwards, stripping the lightning from its armor. His boot slams into the visor, two punches to the stomach doing all of nothing as the giant dust crystal at the armor's chest lights up again, electricity sparking across the steel plating as the Lieutenant brings his arms down in an overhead smash.

A quick burst of wind throws him to the side. Thunder and steel blows another hole through the train tracks. Naruto flips, lands sideways on the mountain face, a layer of aura securing his boots to the rocks. Another burst of air sends him footing upward as the armored titan barrels into the cliff side, smashing a new cavern into the mountain face.

The bolt of white lightning rushes him again, crackling electricity surrounding the armored titan's form. His tail again intercepts a punch too fast to dodge with enough force behind it to break his arm. Wind and lightning crash against one another, erupting into the sky. Naruto retreats further up the mountain. The Lieutenant follows with thundering speed. Yellow flame and white lightning race across the mountain side, summoning shockwaves and spraying pieces of rock and debris into the air each time they meet.

His world dissolves into a chorus of flashes and explosions.

The flash of lightning blinds him. The crack and boom of thunder deafen him. His eyes and ears fail him. Guesswork and pure instinct drive his movements as he trades blows with the armored faunus, tail against fists, aura against steel, wind against lightning, his own blows all but bouncing off of the lightning cloaked plating.

He should have just killed the giant bastard when he had the chance.

Now that stupid armor allows the faunus to punch harder than him and move faster than him, all the while protecting against his attacks.

It's almost like he's a kid again. A stupid, little kid, going up against people who he should have no business fighting, let alone beating. People who could breathe life into forest and spit out entire oceans, human-shaped monsters whose punches can crush mountains, whose kicks can part seas and whose semblances can be mistaken as natural disasters; the kinds of living legends who've even cleaved bolts of lightning in two, _real_ lightning, not the piddly, kiddy, dust-lightning fueling the White Fang Lieutenant's armor.

He has fought against those kinds of people. He has survived against those kinds of people.

He has _killed_ those kinds of people.

Compared to them, this _fake,_ this pretender clad in a lie, is _nothing_.

Their battle reaches the top of the cliff side, pelting the train tracks below in gravel all the while. Wind howls. Thunder booms. Ducking under a punch, Naruto's tail sharpens with wind, its form becoming thinner and sleeker. The wind-infused aura slashes the Lieutenant across the chest, carving a scar into the dust crystal. He flips over a grab, slicing a horn off the helmet.

His eyes widen as he feels something wrap around his ankle, pins and needles racing up his leg. Glancing downwards, he finds one of the tentacles of electricity, coiled around his boot.

The other seven limbs of lightning grab for him. His tail slices through them all, along with the eighth tail holding his leg.

An armored fist crashes into his chest. Bone breaks. Lightning sears through flesh. Warmth gushes up his throat, the blow launching him off his feet. He flips, manages to right himself mid-air only to land hard on his leg, a numbness burrowed deep into the limb.

His eyes go wide as the Lieutenant barrels into him, goring him through the chest.

"Gah-!"

The world flashes white and red. Pain radiates from the piece of electrified metal shoved between his ribs and through a lung. His tail whips around, slicing the second horn from the helmet. He brings down his good leg on the armored titan's back, sending it crashing to the ground and catapulting him through the air.

He crash lands in a heap of limbs. A shaking hand grabs the length of steel stuck in his chest and rips it out, blood and steam rushing out from the wound.

"First, I got 'mugged'…" Naruto groans, grabbing the hole in his side and forcing himself to his feet. "Then, I got shot at… and now electrocuted and stabbed… huh, is it Tuesday already?"

" **Hehehe… HAHAHAHAHA-!"**

A warped laugh bellows out from the armored titan.

" **Yes! YES! This speed! This strength! This** _ **power**_ **is what will free the faunus from the yoke of you pathetic humans!"**

The white knight spreads its arms, electricity flickering from its fingertips.

" **How ironic! How very ironic that you humans would create the instrument of your own undoing!"**

"The hell are you talking about now…?" Naruto grunts.

The White Fang Lieutenant pauses to look at him. **"You don't know… no, obviously you wouldn't. What would a snot-nosed brat like you know about** _ **them**_ **?"**

"You'd be surprised…"

The mutter goes unheard as the Lieutenant continues his monologue. **"Consider this lesson your last rites. I'll tell you what you humans have, for** _ **generations**_ **, have tried so hard to forget! Go to the grave cursing your ancestors for the sins they tried so hard to hide!"**

"… Sins…?"

It takes a non-too-small amount of effort to keep the amusement out of his voice as he shifts, testing his weight on each leg.

" **Thousands of years ago, nine grimm were born on Soshima, the Island of the Elementals! These grimm weren't your average grimm. They were stronger, faster,** _ **smarter**_ **, than the rest of their brethren, each blessed with their own authority over grimm-kind. Even as the Warring Clans Era ended and the Elemental Nations rose, these grimm survived, waiting for the day to strike as one and wipe humanity off the face of Remnant."**

The voice blaring through the speaker is arrogant and gloating, as if already assured of his victory. The Lieutenant continues to speak, not noticing as the blood leaking from Naruto's wound slows to a stop, nor as the charred skin over his stomach begins to crumble and flake away.

" **These grimm were given the name** _ **'Bijuu'**_ **, a word meaning '** _ **Tailed Beasts'**_ **in the old language of the Elementals. Each Biju's strength corresponded to the number of tails they bore, the One-Tail being the strongest and the Nine-Tails being the weakest."**

It is all the masked boy can to do stop from breaking out in laughter. Clench his teeth, dig a finger into his wound and be thankful neither of them can see the other's expression from behind their masks.

" **The humans lived in fear of these grimm, of the Biju. An entire peninsula of Soshima was turned to a desert by the One-Tail in a single night and the Nine-Tails was said to be able to level mountains and summon tornados with a single swipe of its tail."**

" **Even with their dust, their semblances and weapons, there was no way for the humans to fight against such monsters. So they came up with a ritual, a vile, depraved and repulsive method of defeating these grimm."**

The Lieutenant clenches his fists, lightning crackling along his armor.

" **They couldn't fight them, they couldn't kill them, so they sacrificed women and children to seal them away, forcing those who couldn't fight to bear the burden of being a host to a grimm! Worse yet, these human sacrifices were not praised as heroes or saviors! They were given the name '** _ **Jinchuuriki'**_ **and treated worse than dogs, as if they were the very monsters they imprisoned!"**

"… Heh-"

The Lieutenant slams a gauntleted fist against his chest, the motion resonating like a clap of thunder.

" **This very armor was based off the Jinchuuriki of the Eight-Tails, the second weakest of the Bijuu! That its power, the power of the Eight-Tails would fall into my hands, the hands of a faunus, is further proof I was meant to use this to free these lands from the reign of thee humans! It is justice! It is-"**

Naruto bursts into laugher.

"Gahahahaha- ack, my wounds, it hurts! Hehe, hahahaha, I-I can't stop! Hahahaha-!"

The Lieutenant stares, dumbfounded. The masked boy laughs long and hard, clutching his stomach. He laughs until he can laugh no more, reaching under his mask to wipe away a tear.

"Oh, man. I didn't want to laugh, but hearing you spout off like you know anything is just too funny! And it's disgusting. It's so disgusting it makes me want to throw up and then laugh some more. It really is funny."

" **Why you-!"**

"Talking like that, like you know anything about the Jinchuuriki when you're nothing but a fake."

The Lieutenant freezes as the air trembles.

"It's so damn disgusting," Naruto says, tossing away his haori. "It's always disappointed me, the way you guys have changed over the years."

"You White Fang assholes act like what you're doing is for the betterment of all faunus. You act like victims when all you're doing is taking advantage of the faunus's hate and bitterness to drag them into _your_ war. You've hurt innocent people, burned everyone's bridges and painted the hands of your entire race in red, all while having the _audacity_ to talk about justice. And that _really_ pisses me off."

"I just came here to collect the bounty on your head…" he explains, standing straight up without any hint of exhaustion or tiredness. "… but not only did you go to the trouble of bringing that armor to me. You've also given me a pretty juicy nugget of info. So, in return, let me correct a few of your misconceptions."

The burnt skin over his chest and stomach begin to flake off, revealing perfectly healthy skin underneath. He raises one finger.

"First, you got the order wrong when it comes to the strength of the Biju. Though, I can see why Kumo would want everyone else to think otherwise… Ichibi… the One-Tail is the weakest. The Eight and Nine Tails are in a realm of strength of their own. They could probably beat all of the other Biju with plenty of strength to spare."

He raises a second finger.

"Second, the Biju weren't sealed into non-combatants… they were sealed into woman and children because their bodies could adapt to the strain of housing a grimm the best…"

"Though, you are right about one thing," Naruto chuckles. "Jinchuuriki do tend to become pariahs… seen as the very monsters they contain."

Another finger extends. "Third. That armor doesn't even come close to the Eight-Tailed Sacrifice's power. Not even close. I've never fought him myself… but if the rumors I've heard are true, saying that armor 'gives you the strength of the Eight-Tails' is like comparing a paper airplane to a bullhead. Sure, they can both fly. But the similarities just about end there."

"And fourth," he raises his pinky. "You seem to be under the impression I only have one tail."

It really is a shame. He'd love to see the expression on the Lieutenant's face right about now.

" **I am the White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox."**

Naruto lowers his hand and spreads his arms, his voice echoing with power. The hole in his side has vanished. His stomach and chest are healed. The air around him begins to ignite, motes of golden embers flittering into the sky.

" **Kagegoroshi. Tamamo. First of the Three Great Calamities, the Herald of Morning."**

Behind him, his tail loses form, looking less like an actual tail and more like a length of living flame as a second tail emerges to join it. The golden flames in his eyes burn crimson, his pupils becoming vertical slits.

" **Wielder of the Authority of Hatred, he who bears the Dead Demon Consuming Seal."**

Those embers become tongues of flame, gold and crimson swirling around the masked boy as a third tail emerges, strips of shadow manifesting in the center of each of the tails.

" **I am the Undying Vessel, the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."**

" **That's… impossible!"** the armored titan takes a step back. **"That's impossible! The Fourth Hokage killed the Nine-Tails almost sixteen years ago!"**

"Don't you remember what you just told me?" Naruto asks with a chuckle, tearing off his shirt.

On his stomach, just above the navel, a menacing, crimson glow emanates from behind an ink spiral. Eight pillars enclose a central spiral, four seals forming the upper arc and four seals the lower arc.

"Now that introductions are out of the way… you seem pretty proud of that armor. Even if it is just a shitty fake."

His skin pales. The ink on his stomach appears almost to bleed. Black oozes from the seal and reaches upward. Tendrils of darkness creep across the whites of his eyes. Crimson energy and liquid shadow swirl around him as his skin begins to peel and flake off, revealing a layer of pulsating scarlet.

"So, why don't I give you a taste…"

The black crawls up his chest, over his throat and onto his face, staining the entirety of his mask a jet back. From the depths of the shadows, three eyes glow crimson, flames dance across the surface of the darkness.

A fourth tail emerges from behind him, this one forged of blood and shadow.

"… of just what th **e real thing can do."**

* * *

 **AN: Third times the charm.**


	2. Prologue(2): Of Uzumaki Naruto, part 2

He never had a chance.

Comparing a paper airplane to a bullhead. That was what the masked boy said. At the time, he didn't believe him. At the time, he thought it was just hollow boasting.

It wasn't.

The first strike shattered the armor.

The second tore the flesh from his bones.

The third reduced his lower body to a bloody smear somewhere higher up on the mountain.

…

Through the pain and tears and despair, he can see a form stalking towards him.

Its skin is of blood and darkness.

Its claws are blades and shadow.

The very presence of the creature dyes the world around it in crimson.

Three eyes glare at him from behind a mask darker than midnight. Four tails trail in its wake, swaying almost lazily in the air.

He tries to say something. To scream, cry, beg for his life.

The only sound to escape his mask is a weak gurgle.

A blooded claw rises. The claw that had torn through aura and steel plating like paper. Death's shadow falls over him, and he cannot help but find it beautiful.

Because in this world… this shitty, messed up, fucked up world where people like him are treated like animals, where death and grimm loom around every corner, and where monsters like this boy and that woman exist…

 _Just who the hell wants to live in a world like this?_

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Chapter 2: Of Uzumaki Naruto, part 2

* * *

…

It is the standard fare as far as night clubs go. A bouncy and repetitive beat blasts in stereo from eight, giant speakers. Stage lights skip across the walls as patrons and partygoers take to the dance floor, chugging alcohol and spewing cheesy pick-up lines.

Behind the counter, Junior Xiong, a hulking bear of a man, wipes down a cup.

"Yo, Junior."

He appears in a whirlwind of golden embers, a boy covered head to toe in bandages, a single blue eye peeking out from underneath the layering of dressings. His white hair is messy and uncombed, his t-shirt one or two sizes too big. The bandaged boy gives the man a wave, one hand shoved in the pocket of lazy sweatpants and his feet clad in comfy slippers.

Junior takes a moment to look over the boy very obviously a few years too young to be in his club.

"What's with the bandages? Ain't it a bit early to start dressing up for Halloween?"

"A bit. So, trick or treat and maybe I'll think about not shoving my foot up your ass."

"I take it your last excursion didn't go quite as planned." Junior says with a dry expression, placing the cup on a rack. The information broker's words carry a ton of familiarity, as if he already knows how the boy will respond.

Said response consists of grabbing the remote and switching the channel on one of the flat screens behind the counter.

" _-when the White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox attacked a civilian transport train, coming into conflict with the White Fang. While there are no reported civilian casualties-"_

Junior perks a brow as the screen shows two pictures, one of a forest and a suspended train track with a mountain face looming over it.

The second picture is much the same. Minus a chunk of the train track. And the mountain.

"How'd that happen? I can't imagine the White Fang being able to give you any real trouble."

"Well, you see~ while I was out trick or treating, this weirdo named 'Banesaw' ambushed me and kept trying to sell me stuff but I didn't want to buy anything. Then, he gave me some candy and it turns out the whole time he was just trying to get his medical license. So, I showed him how to do a cranial-ectomy, took the candy and left. Thought about staying in Atlas a bit but there was too much snow and lightning so here I am! Back in good ol' Vale."

It is a random spiel of words that would have anyone else wondering if the bandaged boy is just messing with them or if he had been hit on the head as a child. Repeatedly. Junior only purses his lips. Takes a moment to process the onslaught of words as the boy takes a seat at the counter.

"… So you planning on sharing any of that candy?"

Naruto chuckles, fiddling with some of the bandages on his arm. "If you want, I don't mind trading…"

"How much?"

"Six for two."

"One for one."

"Five for both?"

"Three and I'll give you a warning before the twins sneak up on you."

The teenaged mercenary rolls his eyes(eye), non-too-subtly checking over his shoulder. "Please. I'm not that worried about running into them. They're just always bugging me about my clothes, it's weird… what happened to the good old days when you guys would shit your pants at the sight of me?"

"You mean before we knew there was a baby-faced, little brat behind that creepy mask? It's no wonder the girls always want to pinch your cheeks."

"This coming from the guy whose name is literally Junior."

Junior places his hands on the counter. Leans against the bar as he gives the boy a scrutinizing look. "You never did cut the most imposing figure... though, the crazy eyes probably helped make up a lot in that regard."

"I don't have crazy eyes."

"Now you don't. Did before."

"No, I didn't."

"Yeah, you did. So, three and a head's up?"

Naruto grumbles. "Fine."

He perks a brow when Junior makes a face, at someone behind him. Pale arms reach over his shoulders and a pair of shapely breasts press against his back.

" _Naruto,"_ a breathy voice purrs into his ear. "It's been _so long_ since we've seen each other… you don't call, you don't write… I'm starting to think you've been avoiding me."

"You'd be right," the boy replies in a dry tone. He looks to Junior. "So… five?"

"Five." Junior agrees with a sigh.

Naruto closes his eye to address the owner of the breasts. "I appreciate the assist, I really do, but you're kind of heavy, so could you please get your boobs off my back?"

"Rude."

The arms release him. He turns in his seat to face two girls, one dressed in red, one dressed in white, both with the same soft, white skin, the same green eyes and the same silken, black hair. However, the similarities end there.

One stand haughty and proud, the other shy and demure. The girl in white wears a set of bladed heels, a white flower hanging from her long, black hair. The girl in red wears a set of retracted claws, a pair of red and white feather decorating her shorter tresses.

Naruto looks to the white sister, Melanie Malachite.

"Miltia."

He looks to the red sister, Miltiades Malachite.

"Melanie."

Then, he ducks as a bladed heel flies over his head.

"Every time! _How_ do you manage to get it wrong, Every. Single. Time!?" Melanie huffs. "She's Miltia! I'm Melanie!"

"Come on sis, you _know_ he's doing it on purpose," Miltiades says, taking the seat next to Naruto.

"Aw, you really think I would do that Melanie?"

Naruto ducks again as a claw slashes at his neck.

The white sister frowns, crossing her arms. "Would it kill you to get our names right for once?"

"In my defense, your names are hard to remember," Naruto protests. "Back me up here, Junior."

"Don't drag me into this…"

Melanie gives Naruto a questioning look. "Like, how come you call Junior by his name instead of giving him a stupid nickname like everyone else?"

Naruto ponders for a moment. Less because he actually needs to think about it and more for effect. "I mean… his name's already Junior. Honestly, that's not much better than anything I could come up with."

"I hate you so much."

A slight giggle escapes the girl's lips, one she hides with a huff and a smirk. "You know you're kind of an asshole, right?"

"You two are the ones trying to beat up on an injured person."

Miltia puts a hand on his arm, leaning against him. "Why do you look like a mummy, anyway?"

"Had to prove a point. Burned off the top layer of my skin though."

Melanie wrinkles her nose. "Gross."

"Was totally worth it."

"You need to take care of yourself better," Miltia says. She pokes his cheek. "Every time you come by, you're always covered in bandages."

A shrug. "I _do_ hunt people down and sixty-nine them for a living."

Miltia blushes. Melanie lets out a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh. She raises an amused brow. "You mean eighty-six?"

"Yeah that. Wait, what'd I say?"

"Never mind, there are more important things to talk about," Miltia says with an expression of utmost seriousness.

"Like what?"

"Like _your clothes_?!" Melanie answers, tugging at his t-shirt.

"What about them?"

"Everything about them! You look like one of those background characters in a show where everyone can tell they're a background character because the producers didn't even bother to dress them up!"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asks with a smile that causes his only visible eye to curve into an upside down 'u'.

"I'd say I'm 'dressed up' from head to toe!"

He ducks as both a claw and a bladed heel pass over his head. Popping back up, he leans onto the counter, a satisfied smile hidden under his bandages. "Besides, I go through like three shirts a week. No point in buying anything expensive if it's just going to get cut/burned/torn/exploded to ribbons in like a day."

Miltia perks up. "Why don't you just learn the shielding technique we use here in the Kingdoms? Melanie and I could totally teach you."

"Nah, wouldn't work."

"Why not?"

"Reasons."

"Reasons?" Melanie asks, crossing her arms. "What reasons?"

"Reasons more important than looking good while I'm fighting," Naruto replies in a dry tone.

From the looks on their faces, one would think he had just blasphemed against their religion.

"P-plus, I've already got my healing factor so I don't need to bother with anything like that," he tries to explain. "Reinforcement is good enough for me..."

No good. He can see it in their eyes, both sisters preparing to launch into what is surely to be an hour-long discourse on the intricacies and importance of one's fashion in battle. There is only one way for him to escape. A single route to not being serenaded in a hundred and one reasons why slippers are not considered appropriate footwear for anywhere outside the house.

"I-I mean look at Junior! He basically wears the exact same thing all his henchmen do minus the jacket!"

With no shame whatsoever, Naruto throws his business partner under the bus.

"Why you little-!"

There is a moment as the red and white twins look to their boss, their eyes cold. Merciless. Judging. As one, they pass their verdict.

""Junior is not an impressive man.""

"I sign your paychecks."

""Whatever.""

Naruto chuckles to himself with a smirk under his bandages.

"Alright you two, clear out." Junior scowls. "The brat and I have business to attend to. You both can flirt with him some other time."

They both roll their eyes, almost in perfect synch. Miltia hops off the barstool. Turns to Naruto with a hint of worry in her expression. "Make sure to get some rest. Maybe come by and visit us sometime when it's not just to see Junior?"

"Long as you don't mind me being dressed like this."

"Yeah, you annoying idiot," Melanie says, kicking his leg with the non-bladed part of her shoe. " _Maybe_ I can let it slide if you decide you want to keep dressing like a potato, but if you go and die before getting our names right at least once, I will like, _never_ forgive you."

"Hai hai~, bye Melanie, Miltia," he waves them goodbye, making sure to address each twin by the other's name.

""Jerk.""

Under the counter, hidden by a trick door and behind a multitude of locks and bolts, the two of them enter a musty box of a room illuminated by a single, hanging, light fixture. Coffin-sized metal drawers line the walls. The smell of rotting flesh and dried blood hang in the air.

"Geez, Junior. You ever clean this place?"

"I tried. The smell doesn't come out."

One of the metal doors open with a clang. The steel bed rattles as Junior pulls it out. Naruto fishes a roll of paper out of his pocket.

"Might want to look away," he suggests, unfurling the scroll over the bed.

On the paper is an intricate seal, shapes and letters and symbols scribbled onto its surface in a reddish-black ink. A flicker of his aura causes the ink to glow a soft yellow. A small explosion of smoke releases its contents.

It falls with a wet splat.

"Oh- fucking hell! What did you do to him?!"

"I have the mask if you need more proof."

"No…" Junior pushes the steel bed back into the wall. Resists the urge to gag as he slams the door shut. "I know you well enough by now… if you say it's him, it's him. What else do you halve for me?"

Junior hands Naruto a suitcase. Naruto fishes another roll of paper out from his pocket.

"The SDC are developing weapons under the table," he explains, holding out his arm. "Whole reason 'this' happened was because the White Fang Lieutenant got his hands on one of their super-prototypes."

"The Schnee… they're making weapons now?"

"Not only that…" he tosses the scroll to the information broker. "I think I know who commissioned it. Kumogakure. It was an armor with a rather… unique design. I can't imagine that sort of thing coming out of anywhere but the Hidden Cloud."

"You have it with you?"

"Course not. Turned it into scrap metal. I kept a few pieces of it though."

Naruto holds out his hand. Flicks his fingers. A shard of pure white dust materializes in his hand, the crystal almost appearing to glow in the dimly lit room.

"I doubt this thing came from the Schnee dust mines," he says, turning it over. "It's too pure. Lightning dust like this doesn't occur naturally in the Kingdoms."

"Could be imported. Shipped over from the Land of Lightning and refined in the SDC factories."

"Probably was. But the whole thing's about the size of your head. I doubt that much dust ends up in someone's hands without some backroom trading going on."

Junior takes the shard. "It'd fetch a pretty penny on the black market, that's for sure..."

"Think you can find me a buyer?"

"I'll see what I can do," Junior says, tucking the shard into his pocket. A heavy sigh. "So… the SDC are developing weapons. That's one… hell of a one to start off on."

"Something wrong?"

He shakes his head. Another sigh. Junior looks up, his eyes focused on something far beyond that metal wall. "Last great war was only eighteen years ago and here we are, already on the brink of another…"

For a moment, Naruto says nothing. He shifts and looks to the side. "I mean, isn't that a good thing? War just means more work for us in the underground, right?"

Junior balls a hand into a fist, knocking it against one of the metal doors with a sharp rattle. Less out of anger and more just to vent.

"Not when there's no one left to work for... How much do you know about the previous great wars?"

"Uh… that… there were… three of them?"

There is a moment as Junior wonders if the boy is asking him or telling him. Deciding that it is more than likely the former instead of the later, he sighs and shakes his head. "Never mind. This… really isn't the time or the place to talk about that sort of thing. You said there was something else, right?"

"Nothing as concrete as the first, but yeah I've got another. Less concrete than the others. Does the word 'Biju' mean anything to you?"

Junior rolls the word around his mouth. Perks a brow. "'Tailed Beast'… no, what's that?"

"Didn't think so… ah~…" Naruto tilts his head back and sighs. Ponders how to condense a giant, long-ass monologue into less than twenty words. A shrug. "Well, let's avoid any expositions for now. Besides, you can probably connect the dots better than me."

"I think someone's pulling the strings behind the White Fang. Could be Kumo. Might be someone else. I don't know."

Junior takes a moment to process the bandaged boy's words.

"You think this 'someone' is the one who caused the White Fang's change in leadership five years ago?"

"I don't know about that… but I do think they're behind the White Fang's recent _activities_. I noticed something weird while I was tracking down the Lieutenant. It's changed. Over the past few months, their movements have become distinctly more militaristic. Right now, they're raiding dust transports, weapons supplies, munitions warehouses with almost five or six times the frequency. And that's on top of their usual shtick. I'm guessing to keep people from noticing how they're hoarding weapons and dust."

"That doesn't mean there's someone giving them orders from behind a curtain. They could just be planning a large scale operation."

Naruto shakes his head. "In a fight, you don't go all in against a stronger opponent unless you think you can finish it. The moment they establish themselves as a real threat, the Kingdoms will crush them without hesitation. I'm sure the only reason the Councils haven't given the go-ahead-"

"-is because if they did, it'd make the White Fang martyrs while embarrassing themselves on the international stage," Junior finishes for him.

Naruto nods.

The man strokes his beard, pacing about the room. "It'd be in the White Fang's best interest to lay low and just keep doing what they've been doing. Anymore and even other faunus will begin to denounce them. So the only reason they would change tactics-"

"-is because they think they actually have a shot at crippling one of the Kingdoms."

Junior stops. He furrows his brow, sinking deep into thought. "They couldn't do it alone. And you think the Hidden Cloud is behind them?"

"That'd be my first guess."

"Even though you said they're already doing business with the Schnee?"

"They are shinobi, after all. Backstabbing really shouldn't be a surprise. Playing both sides is exactly the sort of thing you'd expect from them."

"You're not wrong, but…" Junior shakes his head. "I don't think it's the Great Village Hidden in the Clouds. I think our mysterious benefactor is someone else entirely."

"Oh, why's that?"

Junior motions towards the door. They leave the room, returning to the stairs leading back up to the bar. Instead of up, they go down, descending into an ice box for storing drinks.

"There's an old saying anyone who was alive for the Third Great War would know. 'The Fifth Great War won't be between the Great Villages and the Kingdoms or humans and faunus. It'll be aliens versus the grimm'. Because there won't be any humans left to fight in it."

Junior takes a bottle from the shelf. "Here, hold this."

"Would a Fourth Great War really be that bad?" Naruto asks, taking the bottle in his other hand.

"A lot of people think of the Third Great War as just picking back up where the Second left off. The War to End All Wars, they called it. Didn't live through it myself, but apparently the only reason the fighting stopped is because humanity was on the brink of being overrun by the grimm. And people thought a Third Great War would push it over that brink."

"Humanity's worst enemy has always been itself…" the boy mutters to himself, making his way over to a table. He puts the bottle and suitcase on the top, digging a roll of paper and a bottle of ink out of his pocket.

Junior looks at the paper and ink with a worried grimace. "You really got to do that here?"

A shrug. "If you want to be conspicuous. It'd be troublesome for you if the wrong person saw me coming out from behind the bar with a suitcase full of money, wouldn't it?"

The man grunts, turning his attention back to the labels on the bottles. "Where'd you learn that witchcraft anyway?"

"Hm~, let's see. When I was younger and not quite as badass, there was this creepy, old toad who kidnapped me and tried to infect me with his pervy-ness, but then I transformed into a girl and seduced him into teaching me his pervy arts. Then, after I learned everything I learned everything I wanted to know, along with some things I'd rather have not, I kicked his ass to the curb and ran away."

"There are so many things wrong with that story I'm not even going to try," Junior deadpans, taking another bottle from a shelf. He perks a brow. "What were those things you learned that you'd 'rather have not'?"

"Oh just…" Naruto glances away. He scratches at his bandages. Unbeknownst to him, a red shadow flickers over his eye. "… Stuff."

The word is said almost less as an answer and more as a sigh. For a moment, the bandaged-over boy says nothing and does nothing, his gaze fixed pointedly on a nondescript corner of the room.

Junior looks to his younger companion.

"Stuff?"

In an instant, the shadow vanishes. "Yeah. Stuff."

"What kind of stuff."

"Er, you know… pervy stuff," Naruto twirls an ink brush in his hand. "Yeah. Like, for one, I can see under combat skirts."

That earns a furrowed brow from the information broker. "What. How? They're literally designed to prevent up-skirt shots."

"To be honest, I don't really know how it works either," he shrugs. "Apparently the latest in anti-up-skirt tech is no match for pervy ninja magic. However that works."

Junior pauses a moment to consider the boy's words.

"Does what mean whenever Melanie lifts her leg to try and kick you…?"

"Yup," Naruto confirms the man's suspicions in a casual tone as his brush dances over the paper. Slowly but surely an intricate array of shapes and symbols takes form on the parchment. "It's surprising. With how much those two are always nagging me about my clothes, you'd think they'd both be the type to dress up from head to toe, but it's surprisingly plain under there."

"Perverted brat."

"Oi. I deny that statement. Both parts of it."

The specially treated ink dries almost instantly. Placing the second bottle onto the table, Junior looks over the paper and wrinkles his nose. "Is that blood?"

"Mixed with ink, yeah. Helps it synch with my aura better." The brush vanishes with only a flick of his wrist. Naruto tilts his head, looking over the seal. "Hm. Hope I made this stroke right."

"And what happens if you didn't?"

He touches a finger to the ink. "Bunch of things could happen. Could be a dud, could summon some freaky-ass outer god from another dimension, could explode. Who knows? Was really annoying the last time that happened."

"Wait, what was that second one-"

"One way to find out!"

The seal flashes to life. A golden light fills the room. It makes a hum like a hundred buzzling flies before the glow recedes and the seal falls silent.

Naruto looks to the man huddled in the corner.

"You know, it's actually impossible for a seal to malfunction that catastrophically. That was a joke."

"Fuck off…" Junior grumbles, slowly rising and making sure to keep his distance from the scroll. "That can't actually happen, right?"

"It exploding or it summoning a god from another dimension?"

"Yes! Both! Either or!

"… So what were you saying about the Great Wars earlier? If people thought a Third War would 'push it over that brink', how come we aren't just, like, up to our eyes in grimm?"

"Don't change the subject! Can you actually do that shit?!"

"Relaaax~," Naruto waves his hand, putting the suitcase atop the piece of paper. With a puff of smoke, it disappears without a trace. "Sure seals can be used to make paper bombs but someone's only summoned a god, like… twice before. It was the same god anyway, no big deal."

Junior brings a hand to his head, tries to rub away a growing migraine. He fails. Taking a half-empty bottle from the shelf, he pops off the cap and downs the rest of the bottle, attempting to drown the headache before it gets worse.

"You know I'm a normal person, right?" he asks, tossing the empty bottle into a bin and grabbing another. "Like, I can't blow away a mountain or shoot lasers from my eyes. Summoning a _god_ is kind of a really big deal to people like me."

"Hey, I can't shoot lasers from my eyes either… can't all be freakin Uchiha… anyway, what were you saying about the Third Great War? Why didn't the grimm overrun everyone?"

"Because of the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto starts to roll the paper back up. He pauses upon hearing the answer to his own question. A moment passes before he finishes rolling up the paper and shoves it into his pocket, taking a bottle from the table. "Minato Namikaze. The Yellow Flash. Hero of the Third Great War."

"You know about him?"

"You could say that. So what about him? I'm guessing there's a reason they call him the Hero of the Third Great War."

Junior nods as they return to the stairs going back up to the bar. "His team and a team of huntsmen from Vale are largely credited with bringing an end to the Third War. Mainly him. If you ever looked up the word 'hero', his face is probably one of the first things you'd see. That's how much people praised him for his efforts in bringing peace back to Remnant."

A sour chuckle comes from behind him. Junior turns to find Naruto stopped with a hand shoved in his pocket, his head bowed and his only visible eye closed.

"And let me guess. Our 'great hero' died but left his hopes and dreams for a better future in everyone's hands… and they did jack shit with it. Or worse, they went ahead and did the _exact opposite_ of what he thought they would."

It is obvious enough from the tone of his voice alone. One eye is closed and the other hidden beneath bandages, but Junior is sure that at this very moment, both the boy's pupils are wreathed in a burning, spiteful crimson.

"… That's the gist of it," Junior nods, looking to the younger male with a somewhat concerned look. It's been a while since the last time he saw this side of the usually carefree and flippant boy's personality peek out. "The Fourth brought an end to the fighting but died before people could really start to reconcile. By the end of that year, any sort of restoration efforts had slowed to a stop. Past grudges, old wounds that never healed. If anything, these past fifteen years they've just festered."

"Whelp, go figure!" Naruto lifts his head with a shrug, stepping past him with his eye still kept in a squint. "People are shit. What else is new? So we're on the verge of a Fourth Great War. Don't see how that rules out Kumo as being behind the White Fang's recent changes."

"Because the Hidden Cloud was one of the first nations to answer when the Fourth called for peace. They may be one of the more power-hungry of the Great Shinobi Villages, but they aren't warmongers. I doubt they would be the ones to want to break the peace that they were so eager to sign off on."

"Then, who do you think it is?"

"… A couple weeks ago, there was a woman looking for you."

Naruto stops before the exit. Opens an eye and perks a brow, the color of his iris a cold and ashen blue. "What's that have to do with anything?"

"You said it was a fairly recent change, right?" Junior asks. "If I'm remembering right, her exact words were… 'I finally have my army, I have my pawns. I don't need any more foot soldiers. What I'm looking for is an ace'."

"Hm… she hot?"

"… What."

"Is she hot? You know, did you drool over her boobs the whole time? Give me a number here, one to ten."

Junior gives the teenaged boy a flat stare. "Really? That's your first question. Not, 'who is she' or 'why is she doing this' or even 'what did you tell her' or 'how could she do such a thing'. Just, 'she hot'?"

A shrug. Naruto tilts his head, digging a finger into his ear. "I'd say, off the top of my head, I can think of… six things I care more about than someone trying to destroy the civilized world as we know it. I wonder if it's a crazy, hot chick. Those are things five and six, by the way. If it's a crazy chick and if she's hot."

"You know you're a bit of a sociopath, right?"

"I like to think I'm relatively well adjusted, all things considered. Now, how hot we talking here? Five? Six?"

"… I'd say a solid eight."

They exit out from the door behind the counter. Naruto follows behind Junior, putting his bottle on a nearby rack. Their return draws no attention beyond a small measure of curiosity about the bandages wrapping him head to toe, and even that lasts for only a brief glance.

"Well, if you feel like looking into it, she left a contact." Junior motions towards a person in the crowd. A man in a bowler cap with windswept, orange hair and way, _way_ , too much eyeliner.

"That guy has orange hair… it's like a pumpkin..."

"So…" the information broker grabs a cup, his eyes curious and his tone somewhat hesitant. "Minato Namikaze? That's a surprise. I'd figure you would have butchered his name and called him the 'Yellow Flasher' or something like that."

"… Damn, that would've been good," Naruto grumbles. He fiddles with the bandages around his cheeks. "I mean, if you guys know about him even here in the Kingdoms, of course everyone in Soshima would know about him. I doubt there's anyone without at least some idea of his story… even if it doesn't have the happiest ending."

"That's one way of putting it," Junior scoffs, pouring himself a drink. "Losing his wife and their unborn child all in one night? It's no wonder he gave his life to at least make sure his home stayed safe."

"Yeah…" the white-haired boy's gaze goes unfocused. His hand comes to rest on his stomach. Something between a scoff and a laugh slips out from under his bandages, and he says in a voice almost too quiet to hear. "Kid was lucky…"

"What?"

"Hm?" his hand flinches away from his stomach, hovers around his side for a moment as though not sure what it is supposed to be doing before it decides to come up and scratch his cheek. "Oh, I was just thinking. I wonder what his kid's name was. Considering the rumors I've heard about the Fourth's naming sense…"

"Oh yeah," Junior chuckles. "You ever hear what he named his semblance?"

"Pft, who hasn't heard of 'Avatar: Howling, Thundering, Tempest, War God of Valor'."

"Is that the whole name? Heh, it might have had a stupid name but it really was the kind of thing you'd only see once in a generation. Kind of wish I got the chance to see it when he was alive. I heard the thing was as big as a mountain."

"A small mountain," the bandaged boy corrects. A twinkle enters his eye and childish excitement begins to creep into his voice. "The thing was still suuuper powerful, though! A lot of people think it's a creation or a summoning-type, but it was actually a projection-type, you know? It was one of the few projection semblances to ever reach EX-class."

"I have no idea what any of those words you just said mean," Junior shakes his head with a smile. "Gotta say, I'll never understand the fascination you have for semblances. What, making an explosive with some paper and ink is no big deal but some random power everyone's born with is?"

"It _is_ a big deal! A semblance is a reflection of who you are, a piece of you as a person. And everyone has one! Sure, flying brick powers are _kind of_ boring, but there are tons of cool and interesting semblances out there!"

"Flying brick?"

"You know, like a flying brick," Naruto counts off on his fingers. "Super strength, super speed, super toughness, flying. That kind of thing."

Junior regards the boy with an amused smirk. "Isn't that basically you?"

"Yeah, but I do all of that stuff without a semblance!" he boasts, puffing out his chest. He hops onto the bar, sitting cross-legged on the counter with his arms in his lap. "Like, a while ago I fought this lady who could control things with hers? Just think like telekinesis ramped up to eleven. Man, that thing was sooo~ strong! It was really cool to watch too, the way she could gather up random pieces of rocks on the ground into spears or just summon a giant storm of dust and debris to dump on me with only a wave of her arm. I think she's a huntress or something. It's just too bad. With a semblance like that she probably has a giant stick up her ass."

"A huntress, huh… You ever think of becoming one of them? A huntsman, I mean."

"A huntsman?" Naruto asks. His entire upper body tilts to the side. "Can't say that I have. Why?"

"I was just thinking," Junior says, swirling his drink. "You're always complaining about finding work, no doubt because you always piss off your clients the second you open your mouth."

Naruto opens his mouth to retort. He pauses. Shrugs and motions for Junior to continue.

"So why not just get a stable job? Go to somewhere like, say, Beacon Academy. Become a certified huntsman. It's not like you're not strong enough."

"Well, there are lots of reasons why I can't just do that." The bandaged boy roll-flips upwards and back, spinning through the air only once before landing in a seated position atop one of the bar stools. He leans onto the bar. Begins to count on his fingers. "I just don't think I'd fit in, I hear they don't serve ramen at those places and honestly, I think hunters are kind of lame compared to shinobi and –oh yeah!"

"I'm an _S-rank_ criminal in the Bingo Book with a kill order in two Kingdoms, three of the Five Great Villages and who knows how many of the lesser villages. I'd probably get a warmer reception from _the grimm_."

Junior perks a brow. "You _do_ know that fake identities are a thing, don't you? And don't you ninja-types have some trick to literally transform yourselves to look like anything you want?"

"Screw that. Don't wanna."

"You can be really childish sometimes, you know that?"

"Hey, even someone like me gets to be childish from time to time." Naruto hops to his feet. Shoves his hands into his pockets. "Besides, all of that stuff is just superficial. I may as well put some makeup on to hide my whiskers and dye my hair for all the good it'd do me. The second I let my aura out or had to fight seriously, the instructors would figure out who I am."

"Sort of Ozpin, the Great and Terrible himself, descending from Beacon on high to invite to attend his school, the only way I'm getting into one of those schools is in a body bag."

He looks to a certain head of orange hair in the crowd.

"Anyway, I've got to see a guy about a thing. It's been… well, it's been something. I'll see you around, Junior."

"Yeah, yeah, try not to get yourself killed."

"Sure, sure."

He waves the information broker goodbye and takes his leave. A pulse of aura shreds the bandages covering his form. They fall away to reveal perfectly healed and healthy skin, free from and sort of scars or blemishes aside from the three, whisker-like markings across both his cheeks. In short order, he summons his mask, brushes his hair back, and fits the mask to his face in one smooth motion, an invisible weight lifting from his shoulders at the feel of the bone-like material against his skin.

' _Hm…? When did I become so used to it, I wonder…'_

"Oh my, who would have thought the _infamous_ White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox was such an adorable, young boy underneath that scary, scary mask. Your fans will be elated."

Naruto glances at the source of the patronizing drawl. Orange hair. Bowler cap. Way too much eyeliner. The contact meets him halfway, wearing a fashionable white blazer and toting a plain-looking, black cane.

"I don't have any fans."

"You'd be surprised," Green eyes roam over him, from head to toe and back up, looking at him like a fine-cut piece of meat. The man smiles, hums in satisfaction and tucks his cane under his arm, extending a hand.

"Roman Torchwick."

"… Uzumaki." Naruto takes the offered hand after a moment of hesitation.

"Now I hear you are looking for work… perhaps I can be of assistance?"

* * *

 **AN: Apologies for the late release. I'll generally try to update on Sundays unless something happens, like it did this week. I had planned to do a double release, but this chapter is the only one I got to finish… and I didn't particularly enjoy writing it so I understand if it doesn't quite stand up to the previous one. Feel free to have at it. It's one of those 'I want to write A-scene and I want to write B-scene but if I don't write this, it won't make any scene how we got from A to B'.**

 **Will try and aim for the double release next week. There's a poll on my profile on whether or not people would like me to post progress on the chapter/s on my profile info. If enough people vote, I'll try to update some sort of 'progress meter' daily.**


	3. Chapter 3: Fate and Fools

Ashen blue eyes begin to droop beneath a three-eyed fox mask.

A yawn bubbles up from under the bone-like material. Sitting up, Naruto reaches under his mask to rub the sleep from his eyes.

He sits atop the roof of an apartment complex. His ragged, white haori is spread out beneath him, over a plain, long-sleeved, dark shirt and black pants and military grade, combat boots. Letting himself fall back onto the grey tiles with a 'pomf', he spreads himself out like a starfish, basking in the light of the broken orb in the sky.

Remnant's shattered moon shines brilliantly in the distance. It is as though someone had gone and trapped all of the shadows and darkness in the world and sealed it into an orb of light, only for that darkness to break free and escape out into the sky.

As a child, he'd always wondered how the moon got like that. Broken, shattered, and desperately trying to put itself back together, only to inevitably fall back apart, again and again and again and again.

"Hup-!"

Naruto jumps to his feet, pats the dust off his clothes and makes his way over to the ledge.

A man and a woman walk alongside their child, standing protectively at the boy's sides.

A drunk shambles through the streets, looking for more alcohol or a place to pass out.

An office worker waits at the bus stop, yawning with the fatigue of a ten hour shift.

Each and every person goes about their lives, doing their own things for their own reasons. People of all shapes and sizes roam the streets, cuddled together under the blanketing shroud of darkness, blissful in their ignorance. Unknowing, or perhaps just uncaring, of the dangers prowling the night.

How lively.

The crackle of static comes from his haori. He digs a handheld radio out of the white cloak, holding it up to his ear. "Yo. There any reason in particular we can't just use our phones for this like normal people?"

" _Don't 'Yo' me!"_ an angry voice snaps from the other end. Probably one of the goons that guy hired to be his entourage. _"We're right about to start! Where are you?!"_

"Heh, are you guys still pissed that I'm getting paid like nine times more than all of you? There's a reason for that, you know. If we were getting paid in terms of usefulness, you morons basically wouldn't be getting paid. At all."

" _That's… you don't have to be so harsh about it…"_

"Mm. Pretty sure I do, considering you somehow think pumpkin head hasn't already noticed that I'm not down there with you."

" _What do you mean?"_

"Trust me, it'll be _a lot_ less work for all of us if I just stay up here until things go south. And by less work, I mean there'll be less chance of a hunter showing up to stomp your faces in."

" _H-hold on a sec, you know, the way you're putting it almost makes it sound like we're just here to serve as bait…"_

"Well, yeah." Naruto admits with no shame whatsoever. Honestly, what else are those morons good for? "So, put on a mean look and do your best~."

" _Hey, wait a se-"_

He tosses away the radio and chuckles. "Too bad for you. I'm not here to make sure everything goes smoothly, just to keep pumpkin head from landing his ass in prison for the umpteenth time. Ah~, if my luck holds I won't even have to do anything tonight!"

… Still, it'll probably be a good idea to scope out the area. On the off chance things go the way they tend to go whenever he's involved.

Silver eyes look up as a shadow vanishes from the rooftop in a flicker of gold.

* * *

That disrespectful brat!

How dare he talk about him and his associates that way, as though they aren't even worth the air they breath. They're human beings with hearts and souls, too!

Actin that way… kids these days have no respect. Or at least that one in particular.

Damn freak of nature.

"Alright boys!" their employer, Roman Torchwick, announces, a freshly lit cigar held between his lips. "Let's get this show on the road!"

It begins.

They swagger down the streets of Vale. The civilians scurry away in fear at the mere sight of them, the baddest men in Remnant, armed and ready to beat down anyone who dares to stand in their way.

At a crossroads, they find their mark, a dingy looking shop with an old sign reading 'From Dust to Dawn'. A mere glance at the building reveals a complete lack of guards or cameras or any semblance of security aside from a withered, old geezer at the counter, looking ready to keel over if you so much as breathed in his general direction.

Too easy.

A chime rings as the door opens. Torchwick enters first and they follow soon after, their faces set in a variety of angry and menacing expressions.

It lines the windows, hangs from the walls in cylindrical tubes, fills the shelves and glimmers beneath the counter. In every color from vibrant red to pale blue to clear white, in every form from crystalline gems to silken powder, the strange substance fills the shelves of the small store.

Dust. The lifeblood of civilization.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" Roman asks, his tone polite. Affable. Almost friendly. He speaks softly, as though he doesn't need to threaten or intimidate the old man to get what he wants.

After all, that's their job. On cue, Steve shoves a loaded gun in the old man's face.

The old man stumbles back, throwing his arms up in surrender.

"Please, just take my lein and leave!"

"Shh, shh, shhh," Roman hushes the old man. "We're not here for your lein."

"Grab the dust."

At his command, the goon squad spreads out to stuff every possible speck of dust into their pockets. A certain disgruntled thug moves to raid the stock on the shelves when the sound of music catches his attention.

He turns to find the source of the noise, wrapped up in a bright red hood with her nose buried in the pages of a weapons magazine.

The thug draws his sword with a scowl.

"Alright girlie, put your hands where I can see them!"

… Nothing.

The little girl in red doesn't even bother to look up from her magazine. Grinding his teeth together, the thug approaches the vertically-challenged girl, the sting of the demon brat's words still fresh on his mind.

"Hey, I said hands in the air! You got a death wish or something?!"

"Huh?"

A tap on the shoulder and the girl finally acknowledges his existence. She gives him a questioning look, her rose-themed headphones blasting music at deafening volumes.

Really, if he hadn't accosted her, they probably could have grabbed the dust and left and she would be none the wiser. But, for the sake of the pride trampled all over by that demon brat, this girl will just have to pay the price.

The thug gestures at his ears. The little girl removes her headphones and answers with a polite, "Yes?"

"I said, put your hands in the air!" he growls. "Now!"

"Are you… robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Oooh…"

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Chapter 3: Fate and Fools

* * *

As it turns out, his luck did not hold.

The sound of shattering glass pierces the peaceful night. The pop and beat of some rock song he's sure he's heard somewhere before blares into the streets.

" _This will be the day we've waited for! This will be the day we open up the door~!"_

Perched atop the roof of a nearby building, Naruto looks in the direction of the dust shop.

"What did those idiots do now?"

He brings his hands together, his fingers forming a seal in the shape of a cross. Aura rushes into his hands. With a pop, two identical clones emerge from clouds of smoke, exact copies down to his mask and haori.

"That window was probably rigged with a silent alarm," the original says. "If it was, the police are already on their way."

Both clones nod, vanishing from the rooftop in golden starbursts of embers. Naruto makes his way to the edge of the rooftop and looks down towards the dust shop across the street.

Her pale features seem almost to glow in the moonlight.

Deep shades of crimson highlight her shoulder-length hair, shifting from a brownish black at the roots to a dark crimson at the tips. Her clothing follows much the same color scheme, a bright red hood over a black blouse and combat skirt, both accented with the same bright scarlet as her hood.

"… Is that a scythe?" Naruto asks no one in particular as the girl takes a giant, unfolding _something_ from behind her. "Yep, that is definitely a scythe."

His eyes do not deceive him. It is a little girl with a scythe taller than her, taller than him in fact, no doubt seconds away from thrashing the group of worthless goons.

They may look mean and scary, but those guys really are useless when it comes to fighting. By no means is the little girl in any danger.

At all.

If anything, the thugs are the ones who probably need protecting, a notion confirmed when the scythe-wielding girl dodges the swing of one of the thugs, planting a picture perfect drop kick into his face. He holds back a groan as the girl proceeds to effortlessly thrash Torchwick's mook squad.

Of course things won't be so simple. Why would they be? It's not like the most innocuous seeming missions for him always have a habit of going pear-shaped in the worst possible way.

He still has nightmares from the Dust-Candy Incident.

The groan becomes a sigh and escapes from his lips. Grumbling, digging his nails into his spiky, white locks, he prepares to move.

"This sort of crap is why my hair's already gone white…"

As much as he'd love to kick back and watch Steve get manhandled by a girl half his size, at this rate, there's a good chance that girl is going to get in over her head. The goons aren't a threat to anyone with so much as a hint of training. But if Torchwick himself gets involved, especially with all that dust he just got his hands on…

Better to end it now on his own terms instead of waiting and taking that chance.

Aura surges through his body. Swirling currents gathers around his feet. Beneath the three-eyed fox mask, blue eyes flash gold. With a clap of wind, he closes the distance in a single step, appearing behind the girl with a simple chop aimed at the back of her neck. A quick strike to knock her out without much trouble.

Silver eyes whirl around. And the girl disappears into a storm of rose petals before his attack can connect.

"… Oh?"

For a moment, he watches as the rose petals dissolve into motes of crimson aura.

Then, a deafening crack comes from behind him. He takes a step forward, pivots on his heel and leans his head back as the back of the scythe head misses his mask by mere inches, crashing into the street with enough force to crack the pavement.

He takes another step back. She takes another step forward. Lifting the bastard child of what he can only guess to be a scythe and a sniper rifle, the sniper-scythe-thing wielding, little girl lunges at him. She swings at him twice. She misses twice. He dodges each of her attacks, the force from each passing of the giant metal scythe-head tugging at his haori. Finally, the scythe-blade descend in an overhead slice and Naruto lunges forward, channeling aura into his arm.

The barrel/shaft of the sniper-scythe catches on his forearm. The asphalt cracks beneath his feet. Naruto pushes forward and a surprising amount of strength pushes back against him, the girl planting her feet, her boots sliding backwards ever so slightly as she braces both hands on her weapon.

' _She's not anchoring herself with aura,'_ he thinks, glancing downward at her feet. His gaze drifts to the scythe. _'And seeing as how I'm pretty sure this thing can turn into a gun…'_

He looks from the metal monstrosity to its wielder, the red-clad girl only a little bit shorter than him.

' _So… a huntress, eh?'_

Bright silver meet smoldering gold.

And, for whatever reason, the moment as their eyes meet, her strength wavers. He takes the opportunity to push her away. She lands on her feet, quickly taking a stance with her weapon held out behind her at the ready.

"Hi there."

She almost drops it when Naruto gives her a friendly wave. She checks to her right. Her left. Behind her. Realizing that he is, in fact, talking to her, she awkwardly shifts.

"Um… hi?"

"Nice scythe."

"Oh," she seems to perk up at that. "Thanks!"

"Freaky eyes though."

"Wha- Hey!" the insult catches her off guard and she tries to stammer out a response. " _Your mask_ is freaky!"

"That's kind of the point."

"Well, well, well, look who finally decides to show up!" his employer sneers, poking his head out from the dust shop. Roman Torchwick welcomes the masked boy with a glare. "And just what exactly took you so long?"

"You know how it is, the hero always arrives at the last second," Naruto says with a cheesy thumbs up and a sparkle in his eyes. He pauses. "Well, I guess I'm more like a final boss who just so happens to be helping the starter-bad-guy. But you get the idea. It's aaall about making that first impression."

"S-starter bad guy?! You brat!"

Ignoring the crime lord's indignant rebuttal, he turns back to the red scythe-wielder. "So how about it? You scared?"

This is said in the most casual, unthreatening tone possible.

"Not really…"

He crosses his arms. Tilts his head. "You sure?"

"Yeah, you… kind of remind of Yang, actually… weird."

"What's a 'Yang'?"

"Ah, she's my big sister! You don't know her… I hope…"

"Sister?" Naruto turns to his employer. "Isn't 'Yang' a guy's name?"

Roman Torchwick stares at the masked brat. His eye twitches. Cheek twitches. There is a moment as his brain tries to process the sequence of events of the last few minutes before it proceeds to throw its hands up and say, 'fuck it', prompting him to reboot his brain via the application of a palm to his face.

"I… don't care," he says in a half sigh to the masked boy's question. He lets his palm fall from his face. Looks to the sinkhole where the other half of his money went, also known as the five grown men currently drooling into the pavement. Another sigh escapes his lips and Roman Torchwick directs a glare at the white-haired bane of his existence.

"Alright, you know what? Let's do this," He jabs a finger at the red-hooded girl. "Never mind the morons, _I_ will get the dust. You just keep that girl and her giant weed-whacker away from me."

"You got it pumpkin head."

With a growl, the mobster slinks back into the dust shop. The red-hooded girl moves to run after him, only for Naruto to step in her way.

"I know he has a very punch-able face and while I am _technically_ not getting paid to stop you from doing that, he's actually not too shabby with that cane of his so there's a good chance that if you two fight, he's just going to do to you what you did to Steve."

The girl gives him a confused look. "Steve?"

Naruto gives a light kick to the thug just outside the window. "This is Steve. Say 'hi' Steve."

The thug groans.

"Yeah, I don't know what color 'Steve' is supposed to be either," he shrugs. "So anyway, in the interest of you not getting Steve'd, how about I promise to give him a couple of good kicks for you and you be on your way?"

"But-" she looks to the old man watching helplessly as his livelihood is stolen away from him. "Can't you just, I don't know, kick him a few times now?"

Naruto looks to the store. "I could. Kind of want to, actually. Unfortunately, that will make it very difficult to do what I'm actually getting paid to do, so I won't."

She goes to her right. He takes a step to his left. She tries the left. He goes right. She huffs and gives him an admittedly adorable pout as her attempts to go around him are thwarted.

Then, a blink. The girl looks to him, looks behind him and vanishes in a flurry of rose petals.

' _Did she just remember she could do that?'_

The mass of swirling crimson shoots to the side, whipping around him, making a beeline for the store. Naruto sighs. Uncrosses his arms. Wind and aura swirl around his feet, around his arm.

Golden embers follow and overtake the rose petals in an instant. He appears in front of her, between the swirling rose petals and the dust shop with his arm cocked back and a sphere of super-compressed air in the palm of his hand.

Burst, howl and roar. The sphere is released, wind escaping in the form of a massive blast of air, the gale lacking in concussive force but still carrying enough power to throw the storm of rose petals across the street. The girl tumbles out of the swirling crimson, quickly turning her tumble into a roll, and driving the scythe-blade into the street to catch herself.

' _She's fast…'_ Naruto muses, watching one of the crimson petals scatter into aura. His eyes drift to the girl and her weapon. _'If she wasn't lugging around that massive-ass scythe, she might even be faster than me.'_

A gunshot cracks through the street. Aura reinforces his hand. The bullet meets his palm with a crunch and a slight flash of gold, leaving little more than a small red mark before it clatters to the street. Two more shots crack through the street. Two more flashes. Red nHe blocks them both all the same, the bullets all but bouncing off of his aura.

' _I suppose if I can just keep her busy… ugh. This really does leave a bad taste in my mouth…'_

Beating up little girls and robbing old men? Normally he would never touch a job like this, not even with a ten foot pole. Call him a masochist or whatever, but it'd be a lie if he said he didn't prefer jobs more along the line of his previous one, even with all the pain and injury that came along with it.

"At least I don't have to kill anyone today…" Naruto mutters under his breath. "Whatever kind of bright side that is…"

She kicks the blade free from the pavement, giving the sniper-scythe a twirl before taking her stance, knees bent with the scythe head pointed down and behind her.

"It's not worth it," he warns, shaking his head. "Don't be a hero, girlie. All heroes get are their name on a tombstone and an empty grave."

An image flashes through his mind. Of a place he once called home. Of the hundreds of names carved into a simple slab of stone. Of the stupid little kid who spent hours looking at that stone, wondering if his parents' names were written somewhere on there.

He never did find another 'Uzumaki'. No matter how hard he looked.

The crack of a gunshot pulls him from his bittersweet musings. Instead of a bullet, the red-clad girl fires herself, leaping forward on the recoil from her giant weapon. Aura surges into his right hand, enough aura to wreath his hand in a golden, ghostly flame.

A clap of metal and wind. He catches the swing, stopping it cold, fingers wreathed in flame gripping the top of the scythe blade. Naruto throws the weapon back. The red-hooded girl spins, flourishing the sniper-scythe about her body and bringing it back around for another slash.

Her finger pulls the trigger attached to the barrel. The hollow clap of a gunshot rings out, the scythe-blade firing into a deadly arc. He side-steps the oncoming blade, flips over a horizontal swing, ducks under a sweeping slash. Another gunshot rings out and the scythe-blade comes back around with renewed force and vigor, Naruto parrying the swing with only his hand, his aura protecting against the metal edge, motes of red and yellow aura scattering into the air.

Crimson and gold flash each time he deflects her strikes. Empty casings clatter to the pavement. A flurry of crimson assaults him as she bleeds the momentum from one swing into the next and the next again, twirling the giant weapon and slashing with an expert hand. He counts ten shots before the trigger clicks empty, the momentum behind the sniper-scythe bleeds dry and the girl leap back to reload and catch her breath.

' _The way she uses the recoil is a lot like how I use wind manipulation to boost my body flicker,'_ Naruto observes as the girl pulls a fresh magazine from the bandolier around her waist. A magazine labeled with four arrows, pointing to a single dot. Gravity dust, if he is not mistaken. _'To be able to weave that into her swings… she's pretty good. Maybe I was a bit too hasty in thinking she'd have trouble dealing with Torchwick. Well, either way…'_

' _Torchwick should almost be done on his end. I ought to wrap this up now. It'd be troublesome if she decided to chase us with that speed semblance of hers.'_

The flames enveloping his hand flicker and fade. The fire fades back to ash. With cold blue eyes, he looks to the girl, the exhaustion creeping into her form obvious even from this distance.

Still, she grips her weapon. Still, she is searching for some way past him. She looks behind him to the dust shop and back to him. Her features tighten in frustration. She slides one leg back, pumps the bolt action and-

 _-a single strike straight through the heart, her aura shattering like glass, warm crimson gushing out of her back and painting her clothes red like-_

-falls to a knee, gasping desperately as beads of cold sweat roll down her brow. She grabs at her chest as if to confirm no, she had not just died and there is in fact not a giant gapping hole where her heart should be, even if it feels like said heart _is_ only a few short moments away from beating its way right out of her chest.

"Sorry, that was a bit stronger than I intended," Naruto admits. "But I think you get the message now."

" **You can't beat me."**

He stands over her, watches as she struggles to steady her breathing. "Leave. Go home. Forget about tonight. Live, be happy. Humans have only got one life to them. Don't throw it away for something as stupid as a little bit of dust. That sister of yours is going to be real sad if you don't come home."

"I know…" she says between panted breaths, almost too quiet for him to hear. A shadow falls over her eyes, the girl crouched, curled almost into a ball as she leans on her weapon for support. "And… And I can tell you're stronger than me. Way, _way_ , stronger. I know there's probably no way I can beat you, but…!"

She forces herself to her feet, the resolve in those silver eyes not faded in the slightest.

"I… I can't just walk away when there's someone in front of me who needs help! Even if you're stronger than me, even if there's no way I can win, I still have to fight!"

A lever is flipped. A switch pressed. Metal plates and pieces slide into place, a spring-loaded mechanism triggering in the sniper-scythe as the silver-eyed girl flourishes her weapon, the scythe blade rotating 180-degrees and snapping upwards to take the form of a more traditional war-scythe.

"Because that's why I want to be a huntress! So I can help people! So I can save those people who can't save themselves!"

She pulls the trigger. A black flash comes from the muzzle, rocketing her forward. Fast. Even faster than before. A streak of crimson and rose petals shoots across the street, this time coming straight for him. The scythe-blade descends with blinding speed, all of her weight and momentum behind the downward swing.

Aura engulfs his hand. Naruto slashes his hand upwards to counter. Wind bursts, embers and rose petals scattering all around them, the street cratering beneath his feet and the shockwave knocking the red-hooded girl back and away, throwing her into the air.

She rights herself with a flip and another shot from her weapon. Shot number three comes mid-swing, the girl slipping away into a stream of rose petals. Four. Five. Six. The motes of crimson swirl around him as she accelerates with a trio of gunshots, circling around him, engulfing him in a storm of flittering red.

Blue eyes narrow, flickering with gold.

A crack comes from behind. He jumps upwards, flipping over a blur of crimson as it carves a gouge into the street below. A burst of wind shoots him back down as a bullet whizzes over him. Another crack. The silver-eyed bullet flies at him on a trail of scattering crimson. He plants his feet, brings his hand up and prepares to catch the blade-

 _ **DODGE**_

-only for his instincts to scream bloody murder. Having taken a rigid stance, all he can do is throw himself back as the scythe blade descends, tracing a line of white hot fire through his hand, into his mask, entering from just above his eyebrow, slicing past his right eye to exit halfway down his cheek.

Blood splatters onto the street. Everything in the right-most corner of his field of vision blinks out. For a moment, it is as if his body has turned to stone, every muscle locking up in response to the ungodly pain radiating from his face, as though someone had shoved a still-burning coal straight into his eye socket. In the back of his mind, he hears the rattle of chains, every ounce of his willpower forcing his body to be ready to move, to be ready to dodge the next strike.

A strike that never comes, the girl frozen in place, looking every bit as surprised as he is, an expression of horror blooming over her face.

"O-oh my god!" she gasps, almost dropping her weapon as she begins to run over to him. Through the pain and past his flickering vision, he sees those silver eyes wet with worry and would swear that they seem even to dim ever so slightly. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I-"

He holds up a hand to stop her. Her voice fades in and encroaches on his consciousness. It comes, a soothing embrace to take away the pain. And with every fiber of his being he clings onto that pain, clenching his bloodied fist, squeezing his cut eyelids shut together. _'Crap. Can't pass out in a place like this…'_

His healing factor may let him tank hits that'd kill anyone else. But damn if they don't still hurt like a bitch.

"I'm sorry…" she says in a weak voice. The girl swallows a lump in her throat.

"Do you need… help?" she asks, her voice none too subtly tripping over the very last word and falling into a tiny squeak.

"I'm fine…" he grunts, stumbling back only one step. Naruto cradles his face with his good hand, half to stop to bleeding, half to check if his mask fell. It didn't. Good. "I'm fine, just give me a second…"

Seriously. Just what the hell? One second she can't even land a hit and the next she's cutting through his aura like a hot knife through butter? That's such bullshit. To randomly get a power-up when you're fighting an opponent you should have no chance in hell of winning against…

…

' _Well, what goes around comes around… I guess…'_

A moment passes. Steam and smoke escape from under his mask as aura rushes to the site of the wound. He takes a deep breath. Lets it out. Takes another, straightening his back and removing his hand from his mask, the bleeding having already stopped.

"Well, _I_ gotta _hand_ it to you."

"Wha-?" It takes her a second to process his words. When she does, her eyes widen slightly and _oh my god he did not just make a pun-_

"Definitely didn't _see_ that one coming!"

"Guuuuh…"

A groan escapes her lips, the silver-eyed girl's expression trapped somewhere between guilt, worry and exasperation. "S-so are you okay?"

"Ha!" he takes a pose, one hand on his hip with the other extended. "As if the mighty Demon Fox needs to worry about a little scratch like this!"

" _You're_ the Demon Fox?!" she asks, sounding genuinely surprise.

"Duh. Who else would wear a mask like this?"

"… I don't know. The White Fang?"

"Hey. Don't lump me in with those losers."

She blinks. Blinks again. "Huh. So you're the Demon Fox…"

His good eye twitches. "… Why do you sound so surprised by that?"

"I mean, I've heard of you but I kind of always figured you'd be… scarier? And taller, I guess?"

"Okay, that hurt more than the eye."

"Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?!"

"Sure. We can meet up there. You go first. I'll be there in, say, twenty minutes."

"Well…" she retakes her stance somewhat reluctantly. "If you need to go to the hospital or something, just let me know… I can get there pretty fast with my semblance, so…"

Naruto chuckles. "Trust me red, on the sliding scale of 'How Badly I've Been Maimed', losing an eye is pretty down there on the list. So don't feel guilty. You should be proud! Congratulations! You are officially the first person to have ever sliced out one of the eyes of the evil Demon Fox! How many little hunters-in-training can put something like that in their applications?"

It is praise, wholehearted and meant truly to lift her spirits. Alas, if anything it appears to have the opposite effect, the shadow of guilt over her eyes only darkening.

"… Thank you, though." He says, his voice not quite as loud but that much more sincere. "The worry is refreshing. Usually whenever I take a big hit like this, the one who did it just starts gloating and monologuing."

That seems to brighten her gaze a little. She lets out something not quite a chuckle, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. "Really? You mean like what they do in manga?"

"Yup." He puts a hand on his hip. "And you know what happens when they're done with their monologue?"

"Uh… you power up and kick their ass, right?"

"Huh, wow you actually got that."

"Oh yeah, I actually read a lot of those types of fighting manga! I know it's kind of weird since I'm training to be a huntress and you'd think I'd bored reading about people training and fighting and getting stronger but I actually really like reading those, since you know, I can understand what they're going through! And…! And I… oh."

" _ **HAAAA-!"**_

The lone blue eye ignites. He clenches his fists at his sides as the first chain breaks and his aura rushes forth, pouring into the world in a torrent of light and sound. A gale storm descends upon the intersection, Billowing winds surge past him. Golden flames roar through the night, engulfing the street, coiling around him and gathering above him into the shape of a giant, grinning, fox head, his haori swaying in a very carefully crafted breeze.

"Okay, I take it back!" she cries out, staring with wide eyes at the fox head made of golden fire as her cloak billows around her. "That's scary! That's super scary! Can we go back to just the glowing eyes, please?!"

"Nope!"

The flames vanish into a single tail of glowing gold. The winds gather and condense into a single point in his palm, erupting down the street in an oncoming wall of destruction, ripping down lampposts, stripping concrete from the sidewalks, slicing chunks out of the pavement. She jumps upwards, firing a shot into the street to propel her into the air and over the violent winds.

Black and white with little bits of smeared red fill her vision. Naruto appears in front of her, one arm cocked back.

She just manages to bring her weapon up to block. The fist crashes into the barrel, the strength behind it rattling her bones even through her aura. She crashes into the street. Before she can get back up, he appears again in another swirl of gold, punting her across the street like a giant red soccer ball.

A bounce and a bounce. Tumbling into a roll, she returns the sniper-scythe to its regular form, drives the scythe blade into the street to catch herself. A sound reaches her ears, a kind of hollow 'whoosh' that she had heard only moments before the masked boy first appeared. Just like last time, she looks over her shoulder, expecting a quick chop to the back of her neck.

And Naruto descends, a hammer of wind and force. Rather than aim at the girl, he aims for her weapon instead, his feet meeting the back of the barrel with a thunderclap of air, his boots stomping the scythe blade all the way into the street. Through his feet, past his boots and into the pavement, he channels his aura, anchoring the scythe blade to the asphalt.

"Aaand~, you're done," he declares, standing and crossing his arms, stepping one foot off the trapped weapon. "A little girl with no weapon to protect herself has no place here. Shoo, shoo. Go on, get out of here.

She looks to her weapon. Gives it a few tugs, finding it well and truly stuck. Still, the resolve in those silver eyes does not dim in the slightest, the girl instead clenching her fist and throwing a punch at his face.

Alas, her fist has nowhere near the effect her sniper-scythe did. Her knuckles crack against the bone-like material of his mask and she cradles her bruised hand.

"OW! What is that thing made of?!"

"I dunno. Why do you keep aiming for my face? It's, like, the only part of my body wearing anything remotely resembling armor. Literally, the only part."

This time she goes with a kick. One he catches with ease, his tail whipping around to trap her ankle, holding her leg in the air.

"H-hey, let go!" she whines, struggling to free herself.

"Hm. Honestly, I was expecting a nut shot there," he admits, keeping her leg trapped. "Whelp, good on you for not living _down_ to my expectations, wolfie."

She pauses in her struggling to give him a confused look. "Wolfie?"

He tilts his head to make his line of sight clear. "Wolfie."

Her cheeks turn the same color as her hood.

"You can see that?!"

"Yeah, probably not the best idea to be kicking people in a skirt."

"It's a combat skirt, you _pervert_!"

"Oi. Who're you calling a pervert?"

He lifts his tail, lifting her up until she dangles upside down by her leg, like some sort of misbehaving, small animal. At the height and distance he holds her, there is little more she can do than push down(up) her skirt to protect what is left of her modesty as Naruto steps off the buried sniper-scythe and frees the weapon with a single, good yank.

Hefting the weapon over his shoulder, he strolls back across the street, dumping her in the center of the group of suited thugs just now getting back to their feet.

"You know the drill," he says to them, his tail dissipating back into aura. "Tie her up. Make sure your hands don't wander. And by the way, while I'm sure you guys are embarrassed that you got your collective asses kicked by a little girl-" "Hey!" "-if any of you tries to take a potshot, especially after _I'm_ the one who had to clean up after your screw up, rest assured, my boot will more than happily pick right back up where she left off."

The thugs slink over to follow his orders with muttered grunts. With that, Naruto makes his way over to his employer, shoving his hand into his pocket, balancing the sniper-scythe on his shoulder.

"Aren't you the 'noble gentleman'?" Roman Torchwick says, puffing on a cigar, a case full of dust in his other hand. "Did the sight of a defenseless, little rose prick your beastly heart?"

"Are you kidding me," Naruto replies in a flat tone. "She's, like, twelve."

"I'm fifteen!" the red-hooded girl shouts angrily at them as two thugs grab her arms.

"Oh, same age then," Torchwick smirks.

"Same age?" the girl blinks as the thugs tie her arms behind her. She looks to Naruto with surprise. "We're the same age?"

He turns to her with a disgruntled look. "… When's your birthday?"

"Er… October 31st?"

"Okay, good I'm still older," he notes with satisfaction, turning back to his employer. He perks a brow. "And the hell are you still doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be making your grand getaway or at least running away with your tail between your legs?"

"You seem to have things under control," the man in the bowling cap smirks, directing a bemused glance at the gouge in his mask. "I paid you good money, after all. May as well enjoy the show."

"Riiight…" Naruto drawls. "Well, you guys should probably hurry up and get out of here. I won't have any trouble dealing with more want-to-be-heroes, but with my luck, there's probably a hunter on their way who'll be a pain in the ass for me to fight and… Wow, I cannot believe I just said that out loud- MOVE!"

He grabs the man in the bowling cap and leaps away. The thugs are far slower to react, too slow to do anything but look upwards as a familiar salvo of purple lights descends on the street, blasting them away, the shockwaves kicking up a cloud of dust and rubble. A silhouette descends from the sky, landing in the midst of the dust cloud. A silhouette that he knows has enough control over their attacks to only blast away their intended targets, that would let no harm come to the red-hooded girl. Sure enough, the smaller shape of the girl stands, unharmed in the slightest, the rope binding her hands having seemingly come undone of their own accord. And the newcomer blows away the smoke and dust with a single wave of her hand.

Pale blond hair, styled into a bun. Frigid green eyes with a gaze sharper than daggers. There is not a single hair out of place, not a hint of worry or fear, not a single speck of dust dirtying her form, from the white blouse to the black pencil skirt to the devil-tailed cape swaying behind her. The woman levels a dismissive glare at the two of them,(mainly him, Naruto notes) as though they were nothing more than bugs and the only reason she has yet to step on them is because it isn't worth the effort of cleaning them off her boot.

"You…" the girl whispers in breathless awe. "You're a huntress."

Roman Torchwick gulps, a bead of cold sweat running down the side of his head.

Glynda Goodwitch deems the red-hooded girl worthy of a glance, if only to make sure she is unharmed.

"Oh my god, I cannot believe this is actually happening right now! Eee~, Yang is never going to believe this! Can I have your autograph?!"

Naruto slaps a hand over his mask, shaking his head.

* * *

 **AN: T-minus 24 hours for the next chapter. Hopefully. I have it all outlined but I have to finish writing it and send it off to my beta first. Atm, it is at 3k words.**

 **So, because I am needy and a big chunk of the time it takes me to write these chapters is me writing something, going back the next day and thinking it is crap, and going back the day after that and deciding it's not that bad and to put it in anyway, I think what I'm going to do is put some questions about the parts of the chapter I feel are weaker at the end in the author's note. Basically, what I'm looking for is a 'nah, this part was good/okay' or a 'this part was shit don't ever do it again'. I won't ever demand a certain amount of favorites, follows or reviews before I release a chapter(but holy crap, 200+ favorites, almost 300 follows, thank you guys all so much), but it will go a long way to helping me be more at ease with my writing, if anyone cares to respond to them. For this chapter:**

 **-Thoughts on Naruto and Ruby's interaction? Ruby's characterization?(it is supposed to be relatively close to canon) Does the way Naruto goes from getting his eye slashed out one moment to joking about it and making bad puns the next seem too sudden?**

 **Of course, feel free to leave reviews on other parts of the chapter as well. Apologizes for the longer author's note. I'll try to keep them shorter in the future.**


	4. Chapter 4: No Good Deed

' _Really… this child…'_

Naruto raises his head, moving his hand to cover the gash through his mask's right eye. The wound is still there. The bleeding has stopped, the pain has dulled and his face has been stitched back together, but he can still feel it, aching and burning and itching as though something is eating away at it. Probably the same something stopping it from healing completely.

He glances downward at his hand. It is much the same as what he feels beneath his mask, a bloody gash over his palm, steaming, smoking and burning with tiny, rose petals flittering out from the open skin.

' _Is it a semblance?'_ Naruto clenches his hand into a fist. His lone eye drifts to the girl staring at the huntress with starstruck eyes. _'No… she… doesn't seem like the type to have a semblance like that. Besides…'_

He has other things to worry about. For one, the woman currently trying to set him on fire with her eyes from across the street. Luckily for him, she is not one of the two remaining Uchiha, so all her glare does is make him just a bit angry that the dumbass to his side did not take the chance to get away while he could.

Regroup. Don't get distracted, Naruto tells himself. First deal with the woman who looks like she wants to tear him a new asshole, then worry about his eye and hand.

"So, uh…" he calls out somewhat hesitantly. The huntress narrows her eyes. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Goodwitch? Haven't seen you since the last time I was in Vale!"

A sheepish chuckle. "You… wouldn't happen to still be angry about that whole business with the ramen, would you?"

Her response comes in the form of her flicking her riding crop to the side, an invisible force hurling Naruto across the street, slamming him into and through a nearby building.

There is a moment as Roman Torchwick stares at the smoking hole in the wall.

"You have no idea how long I was waiting for that to happen," the man mutters.

"Now, as much as I would like to stay and enjoy some more catharsis by proxy," he says, taking out a red dust crystal and raising his cane, an aiming reticle popping out of the bottom. "I've got a ride to catch! So, this is where we part ways!"

He throws the dust crystal and takes aim. The red stone curves an arc through the air. A flare shoots from the bottom of the cane, whistling through the street, straight on a course to hit the dust crystal as it falls before the huntress.

She does not even raise her hand. She does not need to. A mere glance causes both the flare and the dust crystal both freeze mid-air, hovering mere inches away from each other with a purple glow surrounding them.

Glynda takes the dust crystal into her hand. A mere glance at the suspended flare causes it to shrivel up into nothingness.

The mobster stares with wide eyes. His cigar falls from his lips. The huntress turns her gaze on him and Roman slowly raises his hands up in surrender, letting out a sheepish chuckle. "Haha… surprise? That, ah… went a lot differently in my head."

She takes a moment to identify him. "Roman Torchwick, you are under arrest. Come quietly…"

Glynda flings the dust crystal into the building where she had launched the masked nuisance. Raises her arm. Clenches her hand into a fist.

And the building explodes, its windows shattering, the door splintering, flames blasting through the brick walls as the piece of fire dust ignites into a massive ball of heat and force. It begins to collapse in on itself, only for the falling mortar and flying glass to slow to a stop. The building freezes in time. Billowing smoke escapes its crumbling frame. Fire leaks out from the broken walls, heat and smog beginning to fill the street.

Then, her arm falls and the building falls with it. The ground breaks apart, rippling like water, swallowing the fire and the smoke and the entirety of the flaming building like a pool of quicksand, the stone moving with a mind of its own as the crumbling structure disappears into the earth, leaving only an empty lot in its place.

The crime lord stares at the spot where a three story building once stood.

"… or you will be punished to the fullest extent of the law."

"Now, now, no need to get violent," Roman says, his voice coming out a couple pitches higher than he'd have liked it. He lowers himself onto one knee, making sure not to make any sudden movements. "We're both reasonable adults here. Between you and me, I totally understand your level of reaction to that masked moron. Honestly, the boy has some special kind of talent for getting on people's nerves. Definitely justified."

The street behind the two females cracks.

"But me and you? You and me? We're both civilized, attractive, not prepubescent adults here, so I don't understand why we can't just talk this out and-"

Flames smash through the asphalt, flickering red and blazing yellow erupting into the sky. The masked boy bursts from the flames, two tails of golden fire trailing behind him, his left eye a bloody red and the sniper-scythe pulled back.

The huntress whirls around, throws out her hand. The scythe blade lashes forward. The air trembles as his swing meets an invisible blast of force, the shockwave throwing him back. He flips, lands, digs his tails into the asphalt to catch himself, carving two gouges into the street. His boots skid to a stop. Aura floods his legs and feet. A thunder crack of wind launches him forward, his takeoff smashing two tiny craters into the street, as though someone had set off a pair of miniature explosives under his feet.

A blur of gold and crimson. Aura and wind propel him to superhuman speeds, a speed that could overwhelm even the most battle-tested of hunters.

But the woman before him is no ordinary hunter.

Her arm snaps up. A circular barrier of purple runes and seals appears before her. Naruto crashes into the barrier, his shoulder meeting the glowing purple with a force that shatters the ground beneath him. The purple runes vanish. Their master snaps her hand up. The shattered ground rises up, sharpening into a volley of stone daggers. Naruto dashes backwards on a burst of air. The stone daggers shoot after him and a blast of wind smashes through them, crashing and dissipating harmlessly against another glowing, purple barrier as he leaps upwards, over the barrier, swinging the sniper-scythe downward with enough force to slice a grown man in two.

She raises her riding crop. His swing is stopped, the sniper-scythe frozen in space. One of his tails whip around, wrapping around her wrist, yanking it to the side and throwing the riding crop from her hand. The force locking the sniper-scythe in place disappears. Naruto falls, lands in a crouch. He bursts upward, a swing of the sniper-scythe forcing her a step back. The scythe-blade lashes forth in a flurry of red and gold strikes, his form learned but very clearly out of practice.

She dodges each swing with minimal effort. Not a hint of worry mars her expression, the huntress's face a cool mask of professionalism. Without even raising her arms, despite the pencil skirt, the scythe-blade fails to reach her. Her semblance alone is enough to keep the weapon from finding its mark as jade eyes wait and watch for an opening.

They find one. He overextends on a swing. Her hand snaps out and again the sniper-scythe freezes, frozen in space. Her other hand motions to the side. The riding crop flies back into her hand. Golden tails smash against the street, sending chunks of shattered asphalt flying towards the huntress.

Without even looking, she raises the hand holding the riding crop, index and middle finger extended.

The stone stops. Breaks apart, sharpens into a wall of daggers. The wall descends on him, forcing him to leap away, the stone shards burying themselves into the street. She whips the riding crop downward and back up, a giant chunk of asphalt ripping itself free from the ground and becoming a flock of spears, each easily six feet long.

Naruto tosses the sniper-scythe into the air. Slaps his hands together, his fingers blurring into motion. The spears shoot at him and he catches the sniper-scythe, driving its blade into the street.

A wall of screeching electricity leaps upward from the blade, smashing the black spears into ash, stopping them from reforming, and descending on the huntress. A wave of her hand causes the lightning to circle around her and back again, gathering into a sphere of wind and lightning. The orb balloons to the size of a small car, wind condensing around an eye of crackling light, tendrils of electricity arcing through the outer layer of the sphere.

A flick of her wrist launches the orb of storms, the ball of wind and lightning barreling down the street. Aura flows to his feet, to his free hand. He holds up an arm, catching the orb as it crashes into him, a stream of wind aura protecting his palm, bringing the sphere under his control. And into that stream he releases a single spark of flame, the spark catching, igniting, blooming into the sphere and devouring the wind to become a globe of bubbling red and snapping yellow.

A pulse of wind sends the giant ball of electrified fire roaring right back down the street. The huntress jabs her riding crop at a nearby fire hydrant, an invisible blast of force blasting the hydrant open. Water erupts upwards, spraying into the air. She traces a spiral with her hand, the water gathering, gushing into the street and swallowing the fireball, burping out steam and sparks.

The riding crop snaps forward. At her command, the waters surge forward, a tidal wave to crush the masked boy. A single, wind-enhanced slash splits the wave in two. A blast of super-compressed air follows, stripping the pavement from the street, forcing her to release her control over the torrent of water and summon a barrier. Naruto disappears into a swirl of golden embers. The blast slams into the barrier with a thunderous crash, releasing a shockwave that shatters every window of every building around them, becoming a harmless gust as it passes by her, ruffling her hair.

The huntress drops the barrier, finding only a slightly flooded street with not a person in sight before her.

There is a brief lull. Having taken shelter in the dust shop, the thugs poke their head out to see if it is over.

The red-hooded girl peeks out from behind Goodwitch.

Naruto reappears on her other side, next to Torchwick.

The huntress and the boy in the grimm mask stare at one another, each waiting for the other to make a move. She raises her riding crop. His muscles tense. And that tension drains as she whips her riding crop around, the cracks and craters and other damages to the street behind her all repairing themselves before his very eyes.

' _Ah, that semblance really is just satisfying to watch,'_ Naruto muses, the water swirling back underground as the fire hydrant puts itself back together. He looks to the wielder of said semblance. _'Now, if only I could find a way to get her to stop trying to turn me into a pincushion with it…'_

"Jesus Christ," Roman Torchwick finally finds his voice, sounding horrified and amazed in equal measure. "What the _hell_ is in all of that ramen you eat?!"

Naruto shrugs, offering a hand. "Still enjoying the show?"

"'Enjoying' isn't exactly the word I would use," the mobster grumbles, taking his hand with a grimace.

"Shame."

He pulls the man to his feet. A lone, crimson eye turns to the huntress.

"Old hag."

Her gaze becomes that much sharper, lips wrinkling into a frown. "Demon Fox."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to take a raincheck on the whole 'us beating the tar out of each other' thing?" he asks, holding out a hand as his tails flick behind him. "I've got to make sure pumpkin head and the goon squad get home safe and sound. You've got to babysit wolfie over there. As much as I love watching that semblance of yours in action, I'd say it's in both our best interests to just call it a day."

"You're a fool if you think I will allow you to simply walk away," she snaps at him. "Arson. Murder. Theft. Kidnapping. _Rampant_ sexual harassment. For years you have been a plague on these lands, coming and going as you wish, doing as you wish, taking as you wish with no thought of the consequences of your actions. Yet, for whatever reason, the powers that be have deemed your continued freedom less of a concern than whatever matters happen to be on hand."

"No more," her eyes narrow. She raises her riding crop, arm over her chest with the tip pointed behind her. "Tonight, I will have you pay for all of the suffering you have wrought. Surrender, lay down your arms and come quietly. You may be little more than a child in a mask, but if you continue to resist, I will show you no mercy."

Naruto barks out a laugh. He glares at the huntress, his lone eye a molten pool of contempt and crimson.

"You call _that_ mercy? Trying to electrocute me in boiling hot water? Trying to impale me, collapsing an exploding building on top of me?! I see! Of course, it all makes sense! After all…"

A tremor makes its way through the street. The air around him begins to spark and combust, coils of crimson-gold flame spiraling upwards.

"You are the brave huntress, risking your life to protect the innocent! That little girl! This old geezer! Of course, how could anyone say you are anything but a hero?!"

An inky darkness creeps across the white of his only remaining eye. His pupil becomes a fissure of shadow in the pool of crimson, the heat in his heart feeding from the pain in the right side of his face, from the flames pouring out from behind the seal on his stomach. A third tail takes form behind him, strips of shadow running down the length of each tail.

"And I… I am the Demon Fox! A monster who has taken oh so many lives, bloodied himself from head to toe in crimson. My very existence is dyed in dripping, gushing red! At the feet of someone like you, how else can I repent but through _death_?!"

"That's your mercy, isn't it, _Professor Goodwitch_?" Naruto sneers, holding the sniper-scythe at his side, the coils of flame beginning to wrap around the blade. He lets out a bitter chuckle. "Though, you aren't wrong! In this world, death is its own mercy. Alas, I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you to shove your mercy up your ass."

"I may be a child in a mask! But I'm a child in a mask with the power to blow you and this entire fucking Kingdom to smithereens! All I have left is this life of mine! And after all the crap I went through to get this power, everything I've sacrificed, everything I've lost, you better believe I'm going to use all of this power to make sure I don't lose anything else!"

He grits his teeth. Bites down on his tongue and his anger. He brings his hand to his mask, pressing it over the gash to smother the pain gushing from his ruined eye. It takes a monumental effort to calm himself down. He hadn't even meant to release a third tail. It had been a combination of the huntress's words and the pain from his un-healing injuries that had coaxed it out all on its own.

For whatever reason, she says. What a joke. He'd even laugh if it didn't feel like someone was pressing a clothing iron up against his face. There is not a doubt in his mind that she knows damn well why Vale has always tried to keep their hands clean of anything involving him. Naruto looks to the huntress, the woman appearing slightly taken aback by his sudden outburst. And that is nothing to say of the girl at her side.

He takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh, the flames surging through his body no longer feeling like they are about to run away from him.

"Now, then…" he lowers his hand. Glances up. Above, a news helicopter hovers far in the distance. "Neither of us can fight without reserve, but if you won't back away, neither will I."

"Glynda Goodwitch, Right Hand of the Wizard. Elite Combat Instructor of Beacon Academy... Why don't we put on a show for the viewers at home, you and me? I'm actually getting kind of excited… it's not every day you get a second chance to fight one of the people to have faced the Fourth Hokage in battle and lived. Though, that really isn't much of an achievement is, it?"

Taunting, biting, full of spite and bitterness. The jovial, light-hearted tone from before is nowhere to be found in the masked boy's voice as he addresses the huntress.

"Namikaze never did have the greatest track record of actually _finishing_ his opponents."

Her expression turns thunderous. "Insolent child… the Fourth was a good man who gave his life in protection of his people."

"That mask…" her off hand clenches into a fist, rage clouding her gaze. "The beast to which you owe your namesake… even those tails… it is as if you tailored your very existence to spit on his sacrifice. That name… you have no right to utter that name!"

"Kukuku…" Naruto chuckles. "You know, I almost forgot how much you guys like to _ride that guy's dick_ here in the Kingdoms. It makes enough sense I suppose. There really wasn't ever a more 'huntsman-like' shinobi than he was."

"Even the way he died, throwing his life away fighting the grimm-!"

The riding crop snaps forward, a loud crack echoing from its tip. Naruto raises his arm across his chest, the sleeve on the back of his forearm exploding as he swings his fist back around, an invisible blast crashes into and through the wall of a building behind him.

"Whelp, I'd say I have successfully gotten her attention," Naruto muses, looking to the slight bruise over his forearm. In a matter of seconds, the discolored skin shrinks, fading back to its usual parlor. He glances back at his employer. "I would suggest you make tracks, Torchwick. If the Right Hand is here, the Great and Terrible himself probably isn't too far behind. I can buy you some time… but I don't know how much."

It takes the mobster a second to get over his shock. Half from the sheer power he can _feel_ rolling off the boy almost a good foot shorter than him, half from the shock of said boy actually using his real name.

"… And here I was worried you wouldn't have to work for all of that lein I paid you," he says with a shaky smirk. Roman fixes his hat. "Do get in touch if you manage to get out of here alive. I happen to know of someone who would be more than appreciative of your particular skills and talents."

"Is that right?" the masked boy drawls with a mental fist pump. "Well, I'll think about it."

Glynda narrows her eyes. She raises her off hand, a miniature barrier of purple runes buzzing to life over her palm. Naruto flourishes the sniper-scythe, the flames spreading from his hand, creeping up the barrel and over the blade, sheathing the weapon in a cloak of flaming gold.

He clenches his teeth, the wound under his mask burning like a branding iron pressed up against his face.

"Go!"

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Chapter 4: No Good Deed

* * *

"Neither of you will be going anywhere," the huntress hisses.

She holds out the hand with the weird, glow-y runes. A low pitched whine fills the air and the entire street behind the two criminals begins to rise up, forming a wall-

The masked boy disappears. Ruby Rose blinks. It is almost like one of those effects from a horror movie, where one second the monster is standing there and then the next he has vanished without a trace. One moment, there is a boy in a grimm mask with three tails of flaming gold standing next to the man in the bowler cap and the next, there is only the man in the bowler cap, a swirl of fading embers the only trace of the masked boy remaining.

Jade eyes widen. The huntress throws up both her arms, a circular barrier of purple runes appearing in front of them.

And a shockwave almost throws Ruby off her feet as a hand slams into the barrier, the Demon Fox in all of his fiery, golden glory appearing before them, his tails fanned out behind him and a windstorm of force trailing in his wake.

"Didn't I **tell you** …?" a guttural growl comes from underneath that horrifying mask. The huntress winces, falling back a step as his fingers dig into the array of purple runes, cracking the barrier like glass.

" **Your opponent is me!"**

With a sound like fracturing ice, the barrier shatters. The barrier that had stood up to the masked boy's attacks again and again shatters, and he lunges forward, Crescent Rose poised to take the huntress's neck.

The huntress dodges the swing with an almost casual air. She steps to the side and brings down the arm holding the riding crop in one smooth motion. An invisible force smashes the masked boy against the ground. The street erupts upward into a spike, impaling him through the stomach. Another swing of the riding crop releases that same warped crack as before, an unseen blast of telekinetic energy crashing into him, launching him across the street, into and through the upper-half of the wall behind the man in the bowler cap.

It all happens in the span of less than ten seconds. And in next, a very familiar gunshot rings out from behind the remains of the wall as a blur of gold smashes through the bottom half and in an invisible force throws Ruby to the side. The huntress summons another barrier and immediately dives to the side, the masked boy slicing it in two with a single swing, his tails forming into a monstrous, three-fingered claw as he flies past them, the claw slamming into the street to stop his forward momentum.

' _What is even happening?!'_ Ruby thinks to herself. _'I… I can't even keep up with them!'_

Where did it all go so wrong? All she wanted to do was read the latest Weapon's Monthly and enjoy the last few days of summer before school starts. Then again, it was actually going pretty well. Sure that guy tried to mug her, but he was a total push over. Kind of lucky that he did, actually. If he hadn't, she probably wouldn't have even noticed the place getting robbed. That would've been embarrassing.

But she did notice. And as an aspiring huntress and a good civilian, there was only one thing to do. Things were going pretty well.

Then _he_ showed up and proceeded to put his foot somewhere between her lungs and colon. Which, in a sense, is also kind of lucky, considering, from what she is currently seeing, he very well could have simply opted to put his foot _through_ her lungs and colon and saved himself the trouble.

And an eye.

Shockwaves and explosions echo through the street, purple and gold clashing against each other with boundless skill and overwhelming strength. Spears fly. Gunshots crack. The very world bends to the huntress's command, shaping itself into spears and arrows and invisible blasts of force, conjuring barriers of luminescent violet. Even so, the meteor of gold smashes through them, slices them to bits and crushes them with absolute power. For the moment, they appear to be evenly matched. For the moment, the huntress is able to keep away from the crimson scythe blade and golden tails, flipping and dodging with a surprising agility and flexibility for her uptight appearance.

But slowly, ever so slightly, the huntress appears to be tiring. Her movements are less sharp, less crisp, beads of sweat beginning to drip down her brow. Meanwhile, even as he takes injury after injury that would easily put any other fighter down for the count, the masked boy seems only to accelerate, moving with a speed that makes even her semblance look as slow as a turtle in comparison, his clothing taking the brunt of the damage as his wounds seem to heal as soon as they appear.

All except for his eye and that slight cut over his right hand.

The man in the bowler cap and the thugs and probably even that old man are long gone. And she probably should have been too. But…

But…

It paralyzes her. Shakes her to the core. Not just the realization of how easily the masked boy could have turned that vision of her death into a reality, but that he chose not to, laughing and joking with her even after she sliced out his eye.

That he, the criminal, is fighting a desperate battle against the huntress to give his comrades a chance to escape.

That she, the huntress, is the one trying to bring about his death. That she came here to kill him.

The hero trying to destroy. The villain trying to protect. It is wrong. It is all just wrong, and she cannot help but watch, cursing her own powerlessness and inability to do anything to correct the wrongness in front of her.

A crash. The street shakes beneath her feet. A flick of the riding crop sends the masked boy careening into the street, his haori and shirt in tatters to the point where Ruby isn't sure where she is supposed to look. In an instant, he flips back onto his feet. The asphalt shatters as he becomes a streak of blazing gold on a course to run straight over the huntress.

A trio of violet barriers take form to bar his path. He smashes through the first two on his momentum alone, a flail of his tails breaking through the third. The flaming scythe blade of Crescent Rose slashes at the huntress and she tilts her body back, letting the swing pass over her. She jabs the riding crop at the back of the sniper-scythe, forcing it to the ground, the street opening and closing around the top of the scythe head.

She brings up her other hand. He whips around, his tails wrapping around his other arm, forming a massive blade about his forearm. A slash forces her to defend, the golden blade scrapping against a miniature circle of violet runes.

"Hmph-!"

With a grunt, he rips the scythe blade free of the street, bringing it down in an overhead slash. The huntress flips backwards into the air as the swing smashes a crater into the street. Instead of falling back to the earth, she hovers in mid-air crossing both arms over her chest.

Golden tails flash forth, splitting apart into a trio of flaming spears. She doesn't dodge. Maybe because of the huntress's aura, her semblance or maybe for some other reason, the spears veer ever so slightly off course, only slicing her shoulder, side and cheek instead of impaling her down the middle as her hands snap forward, a sound like a cannonball being fired from a canon resonating through the night.

The masked boy is crushed into the asphalt. A purple glow engulfs the street. Great slabs of pavement smash together, burying those golden tails deep beneath them, forming into a coffin of stone and sinking into the earth as a seal of purple runes spreads over them, spires of ice sprouting from the runes, stabbing through the coffin and entrapping it in ice.

Then, the sky shivers. The air pulses. A sound like nails scrapping against a chalkboard amplified a hundredfold fills the street, the frozen prison shattering along with the entirety of the street, stone and ice falling apart as though cut to pieces by a hundred invisible blades. Even her own footing is slices to pieces and Ruby begins to fall as the street caves in on itself.

Jade eyes snap to her. A force takes hold of her and the huntress swoops in to grab her. She takes to the sky as night turns to day and three, massive tails of glowing light emerge from beneath the rubble, each easily three stories tall, each forming into a giant, clawed hand at their ends, and each lunging for the huntress.

She flies around them, panting ever so slightly, landing on the roof of a building. The hands smash into and through the building and the huntress flies higher into the air, holding Ruby under her arm.

She draws the riding crop back. A giant seal of purple runes appears above them, one large enough to cover the entire intersection. Stone and rubble rises, the entire street taking into the sky and forming a legion of spears. The temperature drops. A chill crawls over her skin. A second seal appears before them, a blue-white crystal shatters and the moisture in the air condenses, a second swarm of frozen daggers forming rank in front of the spears of stone.

The riding crop falls. The storm of ice and stone descends. Daggers and spears, blue-white, grey and black, fall like rain, stabbing into the glowing hands. Slowly, the hands begin to fall beneath the weight of the rain of stone, collapsing back underground. The light vanishes. The huntress flicks her riding crop again, the street reconstructing itself, restoring itself to a pristine state in a matter of seconds.

Panting and sweating ever so slightly, the huntress hovers over to the roof of another, nearby building. She sets Ruby down and kneels over, putting her hands on her knees as she gasps for air.

"Is…" Ruby takes a moment to adjust herself, looking around. "Is it over?"

"In your dreams, wolfie."

The voice comes from behind her. She almost trips and falls over nothing as the source of the voice appears behind them in a flicker of golden flame.

He looks just the same as when she first saw him. No gouge in his mask. No tattered haori. Not even the slightest sign of exhaustion or fatigue. With Crescent Rose hefted over his shoulder, the White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox regards them with amusement.

"Yo."

He gives them a wave. Ruby steps in front of the huntress, the older woman obviously in no shape to fight another battle against the seemingly immortal Demon Fox. And the huntress grabs her shoulder with a surprising amount of strength, shoving her behind her.

"Stay behind me," she says, trying her hardest not to let her exhaustion show.

"So I'm just going to go ahead and say it," the masked boy says. "Seriously? You can fly? Since when can you fucking _fly_? Whoever trained you must have really taken that whole 'Good-witch' thing and ran with it. By the Sage, that semblance of yours is so cool! I mean, I can fly too, but when I do it, it's really a lot more like me kind of hovering there, you know?"

The huntress says nothing. Ruby stares at him, trying to figure out just how someone _supposedly_ her own age can fight a huntress and come out the other end totally unscathed.

"It's not like me, cause you know, White-face," he touches his mask. "Gold-tailed. Oh, I have fun with that sometimes. But really, it's like they couldn't decide what to call me and just shoved it all in. "That way, _surely_ anyone who has heard of him will be able to recognize him on sight!" I bet those old geezers were all like that, patting themselves on the back. Lot of people just call me the Demon Fox. Or the White-Gold Fox… but most just go with Demon Fox."

"How…"

"Hm?"

His gaze turns to her, both of his eyes a striking, pale blue. Both eyes. Not just one, wreathed in a burning, spiteful crimson. Ruby swallows a lump in her throat. There is a part of her relieved to see that she hadn't seriously injured him after all. But even so, for him to be able to heal a wound like that so quickly, even while fighting against a huntress…

"How are you so strong…?" she asks.

"Well," the masked boy puts a hand on his hip with a chuckle. He looks to the huntress, his eyes flickering red. "You spend six years with people like _her_ trying to kill you every other week, you tend to get that strong. That or you die. One or the other."

He taps his mask around his right eye. "But, as I'm sure you've seen today, I have this nasty habit of not dying when I'm killed. So really, there was only one thing I could do!"

From the casual air with which he explains it to the matter-of-fact tone of his voice it seems like only common sense. As if he had just told her the sky is blue and the grass is green except for when it isn't. Except… except…

" _Six years?!_ " Ruby blanches. That can't be right. There's no way. Because- "That pumpkin head guy said we're the same age, right?! Fifteen, right?! So-"

"Since I was nine~," the Demon Fox singsongs. He looks to the huntress with a dark chuckle. "First person to try to kill me was a teacher too! Funny."

Ruby glances at the huntress, not sure what to expect. Fear? Anger? Pity? Definitely not the open-eyed expression of shock the woman is sending the masked boy.

She looks back to him. "But… why…?"

Her dad is a teacher. Her uncle was even a teacher, for a time. The teacher who had taught her everything she knows, the one who spent so much time and effort to mold the clumsy lump of awkwardness that was Ruby Rose into a capable warrior. For her whole life, a teacher has always been a bastion of knowledge and safety, a pillar to rely on. For someone like that to try to kill him… at only nine…

He lets one arm hang limp at his side. His eyes close and, for a moment, the ever-talkative boy says nothing. Then-

"Because I am the Demon Fox."

His eyes open, a burning, molten crimson.

He takes a step. Hefts the sniper-scythe from over his shoulder, holding it at his side.

"I've answered quite a few of your questions, haven't I?" the masked boy muses. "So, Rose, why don't you answer one of mine?"

She stiffens at hearing him using her actual last name. The discomfort and shock only lasts for a moment, however. Just long enough for her to realize it really isn't that much of a stretch for him to give her the nickname of 'rose', all things considered.

At least it's better than 'wolfie'.

"You said you want to be a huntress, right? So, you can be someone who 'saves those who can't save themselves'?"

He points Crescent Rose off into the distance, in the direction where the man in the bowler cap and his henchmen had fled. "Well, if you're here to save that old man…"

He points at himself with the same hand holding the sniper-scythe. "… and she is here to save you."

Finally, he points the weapon at the huntress.

"Then who's going to save me?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ah ha! Trick question. Like hell I need to be saved from a saggy old hag and some little girl who still wears wolf-print panties."

"H-hey!"

"Right, sorry. Not saggy. Still an old hag."

The masked pervert shrugs his shoulder back. Cracks his neck. "Anyway, I suppose I should be making my grand get away now. Stalled for long enough."

Glynda narrows her eyes, raising her riding crop. Ruby stiffens as those crimson eyes look to her.

"By the way, wolfie? You might want to get out of the way."

It appears without warning, coming from right behind them. A sound like a hundred fans all spinning to life at once. Recognition flashes over the huntress's face as she whirls around with wide eyes, grabbing Ruby and throwing her out of the way.

She only has the time to summon another barrier before a glowing, blue sphere the size of a basketball rips through it like a wet sheet of paper, exploding and sending her hurling across the roof, towards the masked boy. He stomps his foot. A wall of stone erupts from the roof in front of him and the huntress slams into it.

"Guh-!"

She tries to raise her riding crop again. A white blur flashes across the roof top, their mysterious attacker grabbing her wrist and slamming her arm against the stone wall before she can do anything. They pulls back their other hand, five ghostly flames flickering to life over their fingertips.

It is the Demon Fox. A second Demon Fox, Ruby realizes as the doppelganger slams their hand into the huntress's stomach.

The flames over his fingers burn through her blouse. Her eyes go wide like a fish. She lets out a wordless gasp, her entire body going limp and the riding crop falling from her grasp. The second Demon Fox releases her and the huntress falls, sliding down the wall, still alive but with her features locked in a pained grimace.

The first… the original(?) Demon Fox steps out from behind the wall, giving the downed huntress a sympathetic glance. "Uwaah, you didn't have to be so harsh about it…"

He looks to Ruby. "See, our original could have just done that from the start, but he's a rather stubborn child."

"He's the type that'd refuse to eat his vegetables, or that'd do something just because someone told him not to or would rather die than use the technique of someone he 'hates' to save himself," the masked boy explains in a jovial tone. "Luckily for him, we clones aren't quite so picky."

"You're both… clones?"

The Demon Fox holding Crescent Rose gives her a peace sign. "Hehe, yup."

"You're slow," the second clone chastises the first clone in a cold voice, his eyes a chilling blue.

"I got here as fast as I could…" the first clone with blazing red eyes whines. "You're just too fast…"

"You wrap up here. I'm going to make sure he doesn't run into any other trouble."

"Sure, sure~."

The second vanishes in a swirl of leaves, leaving both Ruby and the huntress alone with the first clone. The one who, luckily for them, seemingly appears to have inherited the original's lightheartedness.

"Sooo~," the clone begins, drumming its fingers against its hip. "My, er, the original's general policy is kind of like a reverse Golden Rule. You know, the whole 'do to others what you want them to do to you'? Except flipped so it's 'do to others what they do to you'."

' _Oh crap,'_ Ruby thinks as the clone looks to her.

"You cut out his eye." The clone's voice gains a dangerous edge and it takes a step towards her. "Again and again he told you to leave, but you were a _bad child_ and didn't listen."

Crimson eyes narrow, flashing with ill intent. Crescent Rose's blade gleams ominously, the moonlight dancing upon its edge. "And bad children deserve _punishment_. Are you ready for yours?"

"Wait."

It comes from behind, a desperate plea. The clone turns to find the huntress leaning against the wall, clutching her stomach and struggling to stand.

"Let me…" the woman pants. Those harsh jade eyes look from the clone to Ruby. "What she did… was foolish-"

Ruby winces.

"-misguided-"

Another wince.

"-and reckless. Tonight, she put not only herself, but countless others in grave danger."

"Not entirely untrue," the clone chuckles.

The silver-eyed girl winces again, resisting the urge to pull up her hood and curl into a ball to see if she can disappear.

"… _But_ …"

A sigh.

"She performed well and above what would be expected of a huntress in training." Glynda Goodwitch finishes, her gaze softening ever so slightly. "Please. I will accept whatever punishment you have intended for her."

Ruby stares at the huntress with wide eyes, the sheer exaltation of being praised by the huntress muted only by the thought of just what the masked criminal is about to do to her.

He looks to the huntress. Shrugs. "If you say so."

She closes her eyes in acceptance. The Demon Fox turns to the older woman. He walks over, holding Crescent Rose at his side.

Ruby closes her eyes as well, unable to watch.

And instead of a sickening crunch, a fleshy, smack echoes over the rooftop.

Ruby furrows her brow. Peeks one eye open to find the clone standing behind the huntress with one hand raised as if he just… if he just…

She stares in disbelief, her mouth hanging slightly open.

The huntress's eyes are wide and unblinking. As if she herself is having trouble comprehending what just happened. Or if her brain is having trouble processing the sheer rage and indignation she is currently feeling. One or the other.

"Bad girl." The clone says in a flat tone.

"Did you just…" Ruby struggles to put words to her thoughts. As if she can't even believe what she is about to say. "Did you just _spank_ her?!"

"What? You didn't think I was _actually_ going to rip out one of your eyes, did you?"

Before Ruby can respond, in the time it takes her mind to process that yes, the clone does have a point, Glynda proceeds to whirl around, grabbing the clone's head and smashing it into the wall. He bursts into smoke, Crescent Rose and all, leaving Ruby alone with the woman whose raw fury seems to be currently dying the air around her in a pitch black haze, her eyes wide like saucers and her pupils dilated into tiny little dots.

She lets out a forced chuckle as those green pinpricks turn on her.

"S-so uh… how about that autograph…?"

…

* * *

"Well… that doesn't look good."

His clone had met up with him and they had escaped through the underground passageways that seem to go all throughout Vale. He should probably look into that later. But, for now, there are more important things he has to worry about. Of those things include, but are not limited to, getting the hell off Sanus before Goodwitch hunts him down and strangles him with his own intestines for what his clone just did, finding a place that actually sells ramen in the dead-fricken-middle of the night and figuring out just _what the hell that girl did to his eye._

An orange tracksuit with black highlights, decorated with blood red spirals, replaces his ruined haori and work clothes. A knapsack hangs over his shoulder, heavy with the weight of his sole, earthly possessions and the compact form of the sniper-scythe.

In the bathroom of a late-night convenience store, Naruto Uzumaki stares into the mirror. And only one ashen blue eye stares back at him, a curious wound over where his right eye should be. It runs from just above his eyebrow to right below his eye socket, the skin cracked and broken with… tiny, rose petals flittering out of the wound.

He blinks only his right eye. Somehow, someway, the eyelid is not broken. Instead, a line of flittering crimson runs straight over his eye, just offset of the center as though someone had drawn it on his face with a marker.

Moreover, despite having sealed his tails away once again, his right eye hasn't changed back. The sclera is still black. The color of the iris is still a bloody, glowing crimson. The pupil is gone, leaving his eye a crimson dot in a pool of shadow with a line of flittering scarlet down the middle.

It… is healing. Slowly, but surely. The wound on his hand is gone and the cut is already much smaller than it had been initially. But for an injury to persist for this long, even after he had gone up to three tails…

"Uuuugh…"

Naruto groans, leaning against the sink. He closes his right eye. Swings his bag around and fishes out a piece of paper and his ink and brush.

"Whatever… I'll worry about that girl and her freaky eyes later…"

It is a relatively simple seal, one just to mask the appearance of whatever is under it. It won't heal him or let him see out of it again, but at least he won't be walking around with a glowing, demonic eye of DOOM. He fits it onto his face, the rose petals disappear under the strip of paper, becoming a simple scar over a milky blue pupil.

Brushing his hair back, the white-haired boy sighs, takes a moment to check his appearance and makes his way out of the bathroom.

He buys a cheap, energy drink, downing it before he even gets out of the store. Makes his way down the street. Finds the closest bench and proceeds to flop down over it, giving all of no shits who sees him.

His entire body pulses with an aching agony, the waves of pain crashing against him with every little motion. He might not have gone four-tails, but three still takes enough of a toll on his body. Combine that with how he _had_ gone up to four only a few days before, throw in a pinch of having to fight freakin _Goodwitch_ , and the result is his current sad state.

"Damn clones… ugh. Didn't use the Rasengan because I don't need more people coming after me and asking questions…"

It's not because he'd rather burn in hell than rely on anything that fucking piece of shit taught him to get out of a pinch.

Really.

A groan. Breathing hurts. Thinking hurts. Hurting hurts. It's as though someone poured a bucket of slow-acting acid into his veins, letting the mixture spread before taking effect. Like his whole body is one big, sore, cramped up muscle and someone had just gave it a good, hard _poke_.

Naruto grunts. He attempts to roll off the bench, only to face plant straight into the sidewalk. Another grunt. Pulling his face off the ground, he gets back to his feet, making a quick right straight into the closest back alleyway.

He stumbles through the street. Leans on the wall for support. Deep bags hang under both his eyes, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his brow. Slowly, carefully, he navigates the trash and discarded foodstuffs that litter the ground, making sure not to step in anything that will stick or smell.

"It's just past midnight… I'm hungry and tired… and limping through some shady back alley to escape getting the crap further kicked out of me by whatever it is this week that's made my job go off the rails… huh. It Tuesday already?"

Just what did he do to earn this level of bad karma? Did he piss off some goddess in another life or something?

…

Probably did, actually.

And speaking of angry, pissed off and absurdly powerful women with, arguably justified grudges towards him…

Something's changed. Before, of the places always sending people after him, Vale was one of the few to actively avoid any potential confrontations. Most of the time, whenever he came into conflict with teams of huntsmen from Sanas, it was both of them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even his previous encounter with the witch had been a matter of circumstance.

But this time, it sounded like they had specifically send her out to try to deal with him. For whatever reason, the Council of Vale has decided they can't just leave him to his own devices anymore. And they had even sent one of their most powerful pieces to enforce their will.

Why? What happened? Does it have anything to do with the White Fang? All these questions and more race through his mind, all but short circuiting his brain as he makes his way to one of the only places to get food this late at night. He shambles into a bar, plopping his face down onto the counter. His knapsack hits the floor with a thud. The bartender makes his way over with a frown.

"Sorry kid, we don't serve minors after ten. You got an id?"

Something between a grunt and a groan comes from the mop of white hair. He reaches into his pocket, throwing a handful of lein onto the counter. The bartender eyes the lein with a twinkle of greed in his eye, but still shakes his head nevertheless.

"Nice try, but the answer's still no. No kids under eighteen without adult supervision after ten."

"He is with me," a voice, his savior, comes from behind him.

"Hey, we don't allow outside beverages in here- wait. You, you're-!"

"My apologies. We'll have a large miso ramen, please."

The bartender scurries off to fire up the cooker. The owner of the polite and stoic voice takes a seat next to him.

"It is not often I find a boy with a head of hair as white as my own. Long day?"

"Something like that," Naruto groans. Turning his head to get a look at his mysterious benefactor. "Used to be blond when I was a kid. Anyway, I don't know who you are but tha…nks…"

Messy white hair. Kind brown eyes. Leaf green scarf. The man gives him a slight smile, his light complexion and sharp facial features familiar to just about every man, woman and child in Remnant.

Headmaster of Beacon Academy and one of the most powerful men in the Kingdoms, Ozpin the Great and Terrible looks back at him.

It dawns on him, an understanding of just why the bartender had freaked out. Naruto rolls his face back onto the counter, attempting to become one with the bar.

"Is something the matter?" Ozpin asks in an amused tone.

"Ah, no. Just… contemplating my life choices. One minute please."

' _FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-'  
_

* * *

 **AN: Apologizes about the chapter being so late. See, if I was smart, I would have also said to check my profile if the chapter doesn't come out to see if there are any delays. So, for the future, if I am late publishing on my schedule, just check my profile and I'll probably have left some little note there or something. I actually sat down on the day I was SUPPOSED to publish this and hammered out 12 pages like it was a history paper due the next day, but I figured I'd rather delay the release just to polish it a bit. Hopefully it was worth the 24-hour wait.**

 **Personal thoughts and questions:**

 **How are people feeling about the fight scenes?**

 **Does it make sense why Glynda is able to stand up against Naruto? Is it adequately explained or does the power scaling come off as weird?**


	5. Chapter 5: Crossroads

' _-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-'  
_

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Chapter 5: Crossroads

* * *

The room is small, a cold, empty box with only a chair, a table and a light fixture hanging above it. She folds her hands together to calm her restlessness. A restlessness born less from fear or discomfort but more from worry. Worry over how that masked pervert disappeared with her sweetheart, the fiend out there doing who knows what with Crescent Rose. Worry over the thunderous expression over Professor Goodwitch's face, the huntress currently standing a scant few feet away from her and watching her like a hawk. The sum total of the words exchanged between them in the past ten minutes had been a single 'sit', and she dares not test the older woman's patience, no matter how uncomfortable this chair may be.

She never did get that autograph.

Beneath the huntress's gaze, she cannot help but squirm, wishing she had her beloved Crescent Rose with her for comfort. And, inevitably, her thoughts again drift to the one who had stolen her sweetheart away from her.

The White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox.

An assassin of sheer skill and overwhelming strength with a confirmed body count upwards of five hundred. A boy, the very same age as her. A name feared throughout Remnant as the youngest S-rank to ever grace the pages of the Bingo Book.

Even she had heard of him. No matter how mismatched her vision of him was from reality…

"Lord Jiraiya? What are you doing here?"

"Glynda, it's been a while, hasn't it? As beautiful as ever, I see! As for me, I had some business with ol' Oz. Asked him for a bit of a favor and he's off taking care of that, so I came here in his stead."

She had imagined a cold-hearted killer. A monster who reveled in bloodshed and suffering, the youngest to ever receive an S-rank designation in the Bingo Book.

She had imagined a demon. A true demon wearing the skin of a human. That was what she had expected to meet if she was ever unfortunate enough to encounter the one named Demon Fox. An expectation reinforced again and again by the occasional snippet of news she'd catch, an expectation reinforced by the fact that it appeared to be one of the _very_ few things that her father and uncle actually agreed on, the both of them seasoned huntsmen in their own right.

Not…

" _Nice scythe. Freaky eyes though."_

Not…

" _As if the mighty Demon Fox needs to worry about a little scratch like this!"_

"This her? Summer's girl?"

"She is."

His words echo in her heart like nails on a chalkboard.

" _I may be a child in a mask! But I'm a child in a mask with the power to blow you and this entire fucking Kingdom to smithereens! All I have left is this life of mine-!"_

" _You spend six years with people like_ _ **her**_ _trying to kill you every other week, you tend to get that strong. That or you die. One or the other."_

" _-Then who's going to save me?"_

" _Hi_ -" "-there."

Ruby Rose blinks, the muffled and somewhat childish voice in her head overlapping with a deep baritone from above. It is only then does she realize that there is in fact someone crouched like a frog on the table in front of her.

"Guwaah-!"

She reels back, her chair tilts over and she begins to fall, flailing her arms in a desperate attempt to regain her balance. The man brings his hands together. Not a moment later his hair, a bushy, spiky mane of white even longer than her sister's, whips around, catching the back of her chair and pushing her back upright.

"Whoa…" Ruby marvels as the strange man's hair returns to its 'normal' length. "Thanks… is that a semblance?"

"A semblance?! No, this, my lovely, young lass, is ninjutsu!" he grins, rising to his full height. Atop the table he towers above her, the man easily standing a good six feet all on his own and _how did she not even notice him enter the room_. He whips his hair around and strikes a pose, one hand held out towards her with the other on his hip. "The Second Hokage invented it so those of us poor chumps who didn't draw so well on the semblance lottery can keep up with those of you who did!"

"Semblance lottery?" she asks, a small smile touching her lips.

She can't put her finger on it, but there's something about the man that just feels… familiar. From the horned forehead protector to the pale green, male kimono and red haori, there is nothing she recognizes off the top of her head, even though she would swear she's seen those red tear trails and the wart on the side of his nose somewhere before.

"Your semblance, girlie, your semblance!" the strange man gives her a wink. "For every one of you out there who can run a hundred-meter dash in no time flat, there's one of us who can't walk five steps without slipping on a banana peel! Granted, that sort of thing does have its own uses in a fight, but the point is, for those of us who are S.O.L. when it comes to our semblances, we have crazy ninja powers!"

"Ninja powers?" a blink. "Wait, you're a ninja? A real ninja, like one of those guys from the hidden villages?!"

"That's right!" the man boasts. Then, his expression grows grave, the humor and bravado evaporating like mist. "I was meeting with an old friend of mine when your little display of heroics out there caught my eye. That was very stupid, what you did out there."

"I-!" she opens her mouth to protest but her voice catches. The bubbling excitement from actually meeting a real ninja( _Both_ a huntress AND a ninja in one night!) becomes a ball of lead, dropping into her stomach. Ruby wilts under the older warrior's gaze, unable to look him in the eye. "… yeah."

In the end, what did she even do? Sure, she had taken care of those thugs, but other than that…

The Demon Fox could have killed her at any moment. But he choose not to. And she rewarded that mercy by slicing out his eye.

The whole time, Professor Goodwitch had to fight while watching out for her. And she can't help but wonder, if the huntress had not first thrown her to safety at the very end, maybe she might have been able to dodge the attack that had led to her defeat.

Even the man in the bowler cap and the thugs had escaped with the dust. Without Crescent Rose, there was nothing she could do to stop them, even if she had chased after them. All she could do was nothing. What she did was nothing.

No, that's not right. Worse than nothing, she became a burden. She wanted to help. And all her 'helping' had accomplished was injuring the two people who were both, arguably, trying to protect her.

"But, sometimes, stupid isn't all that bad."

Ruby looks up to find a small, warm smile on the man's face. He plops down, landing in a seated position on the table, crossing his legs, putting his hands on his knees. The smile becomes a smirk.

"Miracles come from those stupid enough to believe in them," he says. "You're still young so it's okay if you screw up. Make your mistakes, give it try even when you know you're going to fail and let us adults worry about the clean up. As long as you learn from those failures, it'll all be okay in the end."

"Eh? But I-," she struggles, fumbling for words as that led ball becomes a swarm of butterflies, all fluttering about in her stomach. "He- Er, _they_ got away…"

The man blinks. "They?"

"The Demon Fox and that other guy! Uh, the guy with the hat and the suit!"

The man gives her a blank stare. Ruby blushes in embarrassment.

"You know! That guy! That other guy! What did they call him… 'pumpkin head'?"

"Oh yeah, he was there too I guess." The man shrugs. "Meh, that guy's in and out of prison like clockwork. Forget about Torchwick and the masked brat for a second."

"I told you, there's nothing wrong with failing as long you learn from it, right? Well, I think I might know a place that can help you out with that! But first, tell me a bit about yourself…"

* * *

 _'-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!'_

…

He plasters on a smile and lifts his face from the bar, a very noticeable twitch in his eye and a bit too much teeth to his smile. "Sorry about that. But yeah, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki?" Ozpin perks a brow. As if of all the names he might have expected, that certainly wasn't one of them.

"Oh, that's my surname," Naruto explains. "Forgot you guys do given name first here in the Kingdoms. Sorry, I'm from Soshima so I sometimes forget to switch it around whenever I'm over here."

Why the man is not currently trying to lobotomize him with that coffee mug(which he is 80% sure can turn into some kind of gun) is beyond him, but he won't be one to complain about a free bowl of ramen. Who knows? It might actually just be a coincidence that he bumped into Ozpin… right after getting away from Goodwitch… alone in an empty bar…

Just a crazy, impossible and absolutely improbable coincidence.

"I see." The huntsman takes a sip from his mug and gives him a small smile. "I was acquainted with a boy from the Elemental Nations some, thirty years ago. We worked very closely together for quite some time and one day, as that boy grew into a man and that man became a father, our conversation led to the topic of children's names and the different naming conventions of our respective homelands."

"In the Kingdoms, we name our children after colors to celebrate our individuality. In remembrance of the First Great War. Children from the Elemental Nations, however, are named with words borrowed from the language of their ancestors. As a means of remembering and honoring the sacrifices of the past."

"Remembering and honoring, eh…?"

"Indeed. If I am not mistaken, your name in particular means 'Maelstrom'."

"Really?" Naruto blinks. "Everyone always told me it meant 'fishcake'. You know, like 'Narutomaki'?"

The bartender arrives with a bowl of ramen. Ozpin glances at the fishcake resting atop the soup and noodles with an amused chuckle. "That is another definition, yes."

Naruto breaks a pair of chopsticks as the bartender takes his leave. "Huh… didn't know that."

"The second meaning behind your name?"

"Pretty much everything you just said."

"Ah."

With that, Naruto proceeds to stuff his face. For a moment, Ozpin regards him with a kindly gaze. He says nothing. Rests his elbows on the bar and laces his fingers together.

"Forgive me for prying, but what _is_ someone your age doing out this late at night?" the headmaster asks. "Haven't you heard the commotion?"

"Ommuhshion?" Naruto mumbles through a mouth full of food. He takes a second to finish slurping up noodles, swallowing them all in a single gulp. "What do you mean?"

"The White-Gold Fox has appeared in this city."

Naruto perks a single still-blond brow. Half for effect. Half because it is the first time he has actually heard someone else use that other way of shortening his overly-long name in a sentence.

"The _Demon_ Fox, huh?" he say in a nonplussed tone. "So that's what everyone was freaking out about. What'd that guy do this time?"

"A simple misdemeanor, believe it or not," Ozpin says. "Obstruction of justice. After a robbery gone wrong, he fought a seasoned huntress to a standstill to allow his associates to escape."

"Really? He must be pretty strong, then."

"He is. Remarkably so." Ozpin agrees. A glimmer of curiosity enters his eyes. "To wield such extraordinary power at such a tender age… it is enough to make you wonder. Why would such a capable, young man choose to lead a life of crime?"

"Who knows?" Naruto refuses to rise to the bait. He doesn't look away from his ramen, slurping up some more noodles. "Maybe he's just an asshole on a power trip?"

"That is certainly the public's perception of him," Ozpin admits. "Yet, I believe there to be more to his story."

The huntsman looks up the TV screen above the bar, images playing across the screen of a figure cloaked in golden flames fighting a huntress garbed in black, white and royal purple. "The circumstances behind his meteoric rise to infamy are almost as mysterious and enigmatic as the source of his overwhelming strength. No one really knows the truth of the boy behind the mask, only rumors and hearsay… that is, apart from his apparent taste for mischief and sexual deviancy."

It is lucky. Were it not for the noodles in his mouth right now, he might have just whirled around and yelled 'Who's a sexual deviant?!' at the man. Instead, he placidly slurps the noodles up, doing his best to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "I-is that so…?"

"It is," Ozpin chuckles. "Even in his battle against the huntress, he went no further than neutralizing her. At first, I was concerned. When I saw that adorable little girl cut out his eye, I expected such a 'ruthless' mercenary to readily return the favor. Not spank her like a parent would a misbehaving child. I was pleasantly surprised… even if she wasn't quite the one to receiving the spanking…"

That gets a tiny chuckle out of the white-haired boy. "Well, if your standard for 'not a bad guy' is not maiming someone who can't fight back, you've got some really low standards."

"Perhaps. Even so, even if it appears to be an insignificant act of mercy, it is still plenty to make one question why someone like this 'White-Gold Fox' would choose to live the way he does."

The bar falls silent. Their conversation ends there. Naruto finishes the ramen without saying a word, almost mechanically shoveling the noodles and meat and vegetables into his mouth. It is not long until all of the food disappears, leaving a lonely fishcake floating in the bowl of broth.

"It's not… I don't think it's that simple."

Finally, the white-haired boy speaks, stirring the leftover soup. A single blue eye watches the fishcake swirl amidst the spices and bits of pieces of noodle.

"Sometimes… a lot of times, because of friends or family or a lack thereof, whatever the circumstances, people will find themselves doing things they regret. Bad things. Horrible things. And sometimes, because of those things, they begin to slip and fall into this bottomless abyss where the only way to survive is to keep doing those sorts of things, to live the same way as the ones responsible for giving them that initial 'push'."

He pokes the fishcake, pushing it down only for it to slip away and bob back up to the surface. Once. Twice. Three times, he pokes at the red swirl, trying to pin it to the bottom of the bowl.

"Some choose to die, stubbornly clinging to their beliefs. Some are rescued by those around them. A remarkable few manage to claw their way back up all on their own. But the others…"

On the sixth try, finally it sinks, breaking apart over the bed of spices.

"Nobody to save them and too selfish to drown, they become the very same as the monsters that created them."

* * *

"-I mean the police are alright and ninjas are cool too, but huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and really- gosh, you know?!"

There is a moment as the ninja and the huntress both look at her, one with amusement and the other with thinly-veiled exasperation. It's a surprise really. You'd think the ninja would be the one all uptight and business-y while the huntress would be the accommodating and friendly one, Ruby Rose cannot help but think to herself.

"You know who I am?" the ninja asks.

Ruby Rose tilts her head. Squints her eyes and puts a finger to her lips. "No, but… I think, maybe… I don't know. I _swear_ I've seen you somewhere before, but I just can't remember where… maybe the news or something?"

The man grins. He leaps to his feet with surprising nimbleness for a man of his size, his kabuki sandals clacking against the tabletop as he strikes a pose.

"From east to west, I-!"

"This man is Jiraiya." Glynda interrupts. The man shoots her an annoyed glare and she returns a dry stare. "He is-"

And in turn, a gasp of awe interrupts the huntress.

"That's you?!" Ruby shouts in pure glee with stars in her eyes. "Lord Jiraiya?! Jiraiya-sama, the Holy Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku?! One of the Sannin of the Hidden Leaf and the one who trained the legendary Yondaime, himself?! Oh! My! GOD! I cannot believe I'm actually meeting you in person!"

"So you have heard of me!" Lord Jiraiya grins, putting his hands on his hips. He gives Professor Goodwitch a stink eye. "I'm glad _someone_ here recognizes my greatness."

She responds with a flat expression and an even flatter tone of voice. "… It appears she forgot to add 'shameless pervert' to your list of titles, Lord Jiraiya."

"How _dare_ you make such baseless accusations?! Jiraiya declares, jabbing a finger at the huntress. He whirls around to face her, raising his hands and making a vaguely disturbing, wiggling motion with his fingers. "I am no mere pervert! I am a SUUUUPER PERVERT!"

The huntress stares, hopelessly, for another moment. Her shoulders slouch as the exasperation finally bubbles up over her features and a sigh escapes her lips.

"Oh yeah!" Ruby chirps. "And you're the one who writes those pervy books that my whole family reads! Hey, can I have your autograph?!"

Glynda drops her face into her palm, shaking her head.

"Of course!" Jiraiya booms. "It's a pleasure for an author to meet a fan of their work!"

"Ah, no, it's not like they actually ever let me _read_ any of it," Ruby grumbles. "Since I'm still a minor or whatever, Yang and Uncle Qrow are always telling me I won't be able to 'appreciate it' until I'm older."

"Well, as an author and an adult, I can't _officially_ tell you to forget the rules and just go ahead and read it because no one in the history of ever actually pays attention to the content ratings system, buuut~…"

Jiraiya crosses his arms. Perks a brow, looking her over. "How old are you?"

"I'll be sixteen in October!" Ruby says with a salute.

"Alright," Jiraiya smiles. He leaps down from the table. Takes a small, orange book from his haori, scribbling his signature over it. "Here, early birthday present. Don't open it until you're sixteen."

Professor Goodwitch removes the hand from her face to muster up a glare at the underaged girl.

"Ahaha, right," Ruby shrinks into herself, hiding the book behind her. "Not until I'm sixteen."

She's totally reading it as soon as she gets home, if only to see just what the fuss is about. She won't open it, though. After all, if the book _just so happened_ to fall on her bed, and she were to flip through the pages, that wouldn't count as opening it, right?

"And here's another early birthday present," Jiraiya says, this time taking out an envelope. "This one's not from me though, so you can open it up right now."

"Really?"

She takes the envelope, breaking the official looking seal to retrieve its contents.

"This is… an acceptance letter?"

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto downs the rest of the broth in one go, setting down the bowl.

"Well, thanks for the ramen, old man," he says. "Guess it's time to get down to business?"

This is going to suck.

Even if he does somehow manage to get away, even the ramen he just ate probably isn't going to still be in his stomach come the end of the night.

"Let's," Ozpin turns to face him completely. "Do you know who I am?"

"Who doesn't?" Naruto's lips curve into a dry smirk. He closes his eye. "For Ozpin the Great and Terrible himself to descend from his clockwork tower to buy me a bowl of ramen. I'm honored."

A slight chuckle. "Oh, I assure you, that was not my only reason for visiting Vale this late at night. The school year is about to start, after all. It is quite the busy time for my associates and I."

"I'm sure it is," the white-haired boy puts a hand on the counter and turns to face the headmaster as well. His only eye opens, regarding the huntsman with a cautious gaze. "So, you wouldn't be here unless _those other reasons_ you have for visiting Vale required your personal attention…"

"Indeed."

Slowly, silently, Naruto lowers his leg. His foot touches the top of his knapsack. A layer of aura causes the cloth to cling to the bottom of his sandal.

"Tell me, Uzumaki Naruto…"

His entire body tenses. With the back of his foot, he flings the knapsack into the air-!

"Would you like to come to my school?"

"… Eh?"

…

* * *

This can't be happening.

This _cannot_ be happening. It has to be a dream. It has to be a dream, doesn't it? That's the only way to explain all of this. The _Demon Fox_ , one of the most infamous criminals in the world,making _Yang-level puns_. Meeting both a ninja _and_ a huntress in one night. And not just any ninja or any huntress, but _Lord Jiraiya himself_ and _Professor Goodwitch_ , an elite combat instructor at one of the preeminent huntsmen academies in Remnant. Beacon Academy. The place her sister would be attending this year. The place she hoped to one day apply and maybe, hopefully get accepted into.

The place she just received a full-ride scholarship to.

"Oh my god, oh my god-!"

"Sheesh, calm down, jumpy! Breathe! Now, before I go, sit back down a second. There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Right!"

She returns to her seat with a flicker of her semblance, resisting the urge to kick her feet in glee. Ruby Rose hugs the letter to her chest, her face stuck in a wide and happy smile. Not even the way Lord Jiraiya somehow manages to pull a foldable chair out of thin air manages to phase her, the legendary ninja taking a seat at the other end of the table.

"You said you wanted to help people, right?" he asks, his smile growing a touch more somber. "To make the world a better place?"

"That's why I wanna be a huntress!" she chirps.

"Have you ever thought about what you're going to do when those two things end up on opposite sides?"

"… What do you mean?"

"There is… someone who I care very deeply for," Lord Jiraiya admits in a sad tone. "Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate to stab me in the throat, but… I still care for him all the same. Even though he's hurt plenty of people, even though the world would probably sleep a bit easier if he were gone, I still can't help but care for him. I can't bring myself to kill him, for all of my power and might as the Toad Sage. Because I know why he is the way that he is today. And I know it's in no small part thanks to me."

"When helping someone means making the world worse off," the veteran ninja explains. "When making the world a better place means abandoning someone who needs your help. When your ideals and what's right and what's wrong just don't line up, what are you going to do?"

"That…"

Ruby blinks. Her mind draws a blank. She looks down at the table, her smile becoming just a bit smaller. "That's…"

" _-Then who's going to save me?"_

"You don't have to give me an answer," Lord Jiraiya assures her. "It's a question I still haven't found an answer to myself. If I have my way, this'll be the only time you ever run into this question. But, if I had my way, there'd never have been a Third Great War. If I had my way, you'd never have had to fight that masked brat."

"It'd be nice, if things were so simple as good guys and bad guys, heroes and monsters. But in this world, everyone is the hero of their own story. And the monsters they face are almost always just someone else trying to survive, someone else just trying to help, someone else just trying to make this world a better place in their own way."

His voice is warm and caring and full of kindness. And it feels like he just punched her in the gut.

"Don't get me wrong," he says with a chuckle. "Of course, there are real monsters out there. The creatures of Grimm. And those people even worse than grimm. Those people who toy with others, break them, steal from them, take advantage of and control them. The ones who see those just trying to peacefully live their lives as cattle and sheep. There are plenty of freaks like that out there. But…"

A pause. She can feel the weight of the legendary ninja's eyes on her. Eyes that seem to pierce straight through her skin.

"I'm sorry."

"Ah no, it's-" Ruby blinks. Looks up to find the veteran of two world wars giving her a small, sad smile. She glances away, for some reason that smile on her face not feeling quite as stuck as it was before.

Like it is a few wrong words from falling right off.

"It's just, it's pretty late and, after everything that happened, I'm kind of tired, so…"

"That's right," Lord Jiraiya closes his eyes, clasps a hand on his knee. He raises to his feet, the folding chair bursting into smoke. "It is pretty late. Sorry for springing this on you… it's just some food for thought. But forget about that, eh? You probably can't wait to get home and share the good news, right? I'm sure your folks are worried sick. Don't worry about the police, I've already sorted everything out with them."

He looks to Professor Goodwitch. "The brat hit you with a seal right? To stop you from using your semblance? Here, let see if I can take care of that before I go…"

The ninja and the huntress take their leave. The steel door clicks shut behind them.

It isn't until thirty minutes later that Ruby leaves as well.

* * *

He walks through the streets in a haze, putting one foot in front of the other with no real destination in mind. Maybe it is because it is late, he is tired and he hadn't entirely expected to walk out of that bar with all his limbs still attached to his body. Maybe it is because what goes up must come down, and his knapsack and the _supposedly_ fifteen-year-old little girl's sniper-scythe within had come down straight on the top of his head.

Whatever the reason, brain damage or otherwise, Uzumaki Naruto finds himself wandering the streets of Vale.

It has to be a trap.

" _Would you like to come to my school?"_

It has to be a trap.

" _No, I do not mean 'in a body bag'. I was thinking more along the lines of as a student. You would enroll in this year's freshman class. And before you ask, no, class is not a euphemism for prison."_

"Has to be a trap…" Naruto mutters to himself, trying to silence the little part of him deep down daring to whisper _but what if it's not?_

Because he's seen this song and dance before. Because he knows how it goes. And he knows how it ends.

He's no longer the little kid he was back then, too weak and inept to protect himself. Too stupid and naïve and desperate to hear anything but that little voice in the back of his mind going _what if_. He made the mistake of listening to that voice once.

He won't make it again.

For now, he needs to get out of Vale. Lay low until everything blows over and Ozpin and the witch are too busy to try to hunt him down. Maybe he can get in contact with Torchwick after that.

But for now, he needs to talk to Junior. And after that, finally get some sleep, a precious commodity that has eluded him since the short nap he had on that train in Atlas.

A quick body flicker brings him to the information broker's club in no time. And all he needs is a glance to tell that something is wrong. The club is silent, silent at the dead of night, peak hours for an establishment like this. The windows are boarded up. The sliding doors are closed with a 'keep out' sign hanging just out front.

Without a care, he goes around the sign, finding the doors still working as they open and Naruto beholds the inside of the club.

The inside is worse than the outside. Windows broken and furniture smashed with scorch marks covering the floor, it looks as though some kind of whirlwind passed through. Then set everything on fire.

He's pretty sure there used to be a large glass pillar there.

For a moment, he says nothing, his lone eye scanning the trashed dancefloor. His lips thin into a frown. Crimson bleeds into his left eye, a dull ache coming from the right, Naruto unabashedly letting the cold rage course through his veins as the air around him drops a good five degrees.

"… Okay, who do I kill?"

There should be a recording or security tape somewhere.

"Jesus Christ!" a voice comes from behind the bar. "Naruto?! For Pete's sake, cool it with the killing intent, you're going to give me a heart attack!"

"Junior?" Naruto blinks and the crimson returns to blue. The chill vanishes just as quick. A small burst of aura and wind brings him to the bar, setting him atop the counter. It is there he finds the information broker kneeled over, halfway out of the stairs to the drink cooler with a sizable bandage over his cheek.

"The hell happened to your eye?" Junior grunts, getting back to his feet.

"… I was attacked by a small animal." Naruto responds after a slight pause. He perks a brow, looking around. "The hell happened to your everything? Where are Melanie and Miltia? They okay?"

"They're fine, just a bit sore," the information broker makes his way around, dumping himself on one of the bar stools. "Think they're just resting at home. As for the club, we really could have used you the other night. Some, crazy, blond girl came in and trashed the place."

"Huh." Naruto throws his knapsack onto the counter and takes a seat. "Is that right? On a scale from one to me, how bad was it?"

"Can't really compare most people to the shit you pulled when you first came around here."

"Heh, I guess that's true..." the boy says with a sheepish chuckle, scratching his cheek. "So what'd you do to her? Must have pissed her off pretty bad for her to do all of this."

"Hey. For the record, _I_ didn't do anything. Crazy bitch came in here looking for info about someone and manhandled my boys when I told her I didn't know anything."

"We talking your boy boys or your boys?"

"Both."

"Ouch. Did you at least get some good shots in?"

"I wish. The girl was like some kind of berserker. Harder we hit her, the harder she hit us back."

"Semblance or just holding back?"

"I'd say semblance, probably."

"What, did she start turning big and green or something?"

"No… Kind of did the same thing you do, actually," Junior muses with a disgruntled expression. "Eyes turned red, started catching on fire… in retrospect, that should've been a good a sign as any to run for the hills."

A snort. Naruto smirks. "Sounds like it. You got a video?"

"Yeah, here."

Junior puts his phone on the counter and taps the screen. The image is projected outwards and up through the camera, footage playing before them of a fiery blond ripping through the ranks of the suited thugs with a flurry of punches and kicks.

"Whoa," the white-haired boy perks a brow. "She's hot."

Junior rolls his eyes with an unimpressed look. "Please. 6.5. 7 at most."

"Are you kidding me? You're just pissed she kicked your ass."

"No, I'm not. She's probably like, what? Half my age? You just think she's 'so hot' because you're both brats."

"Whatever, _Junior_." Naruto scoffs, turning his attention to the video.

"… It looks like she's absorbing the force from your hits," he puts a hand over his face, narrowing his lone eye as he scrutinizes the footage. "Putting aside the ones that just light everything on fire, most fire-based semblances revolve around the transformation of energy. She really is just turning the force from your own attacks against you… so kinetic backlash? Does she still take the damage from the hits or is it a complete redirection? Looks like she's still feeling them so probably the first… but it doesn't look like she's using reinforcement, so she's just blocking it with her aura? Does that mean it's based off the damage her body takes or is it her aura? It's a semblance, so the second makes more sense here, but-"

The feed cuts out as Junior taps the screen again and takes back his phone.

"Hey, I was watching those-that!"

His slip does not go unnoticed by the information broker. The man perks a brow. "Those?"

"Er…"

"You were staring at her boobs, weren't you?"

"… A little. But hey, yeah. When's the part where she kicks your ass? I wanna see that."

Junior blinks, finding his hand empty and his phone back in the hands of the white-haired boy. "… How'd you do that?"

A raised brow. Naruto doesn't even look away from the phone, fiddling with it excitedly. "I can knock someone out by looking at them the wrong way and you're wondering how I just took your phone without you noticing?"

"Fair enough."

Setting the phone back on the counter, the video returns, the playback starting off just as Junior walks out from the back of the club, a rocket launcher over his shoulder.

" _You're gonna pay for this."_ The image of Junior declares.

Naruto muffles a chuckle. Junior smacks him on the arm. They watch as the man accidently rips out a couple strands of the girl's hair and she promptly sends him flying out the window.

"… Awesome." Naruto grins. "Here, let's watch it again!"

He rewinds the video, playing it back in slow motion. Junior's eye twitches as he watches the fist plow into his face at 0.5x speed.

"… Aaand~ one more time!"

"Alright, alright, you've had your fun," the information broker snaps, snatching away the phone. "And you know, apparently that girl is going to _Beacon_ this year! Can you believe that?! I mean, I get that this isn't exactly the most _upstanding_ establishment in the neighborhood, but you don't go into a forest and expect there not to be any bears. What's this world coming to when trainee huntresses are just going around, exploding and beating people up whenever they don't get the answer they're looking for?!"

Only silence answers his ranting. Junior perks a brow, looking to the white-haired boy at his side. There is a somewhat troubled expression upon the boy's features, his gaze lowered and unfocused with his lips kept in a blank frown. An expression he is sure he would see much more often if teenaged mercenary didn't always hide his face behind a mask.

"Naruto."

"Hm?" the boy perks up. "Ah, sorry. Yeah, uh, sounds like you got your ass handed to you."

And just like that it's gone, replaced by an empty smile. Junior furrows his brow.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing, just…" a chuckle. Naruto scratches his cheek, resisting the urge to summon his mask. "Remember that thing I said a while ago? When we were talking about me going to a huntsman academy?"

"Ozpin or a body bag, right?" Junior recalls. "I heard you got into a fight with a huntress earlier. But, since it was you, I figured you'd be fine…"

He looks to the scar over the boy's right eye. "… This wouldn't have anything to do with that 'small animal', would it?"

"Nah, no…" the corners of his lips twitch. Naruto taps his finger against the counter. "That huntress wasn't just any huntress. It was Goodwitch. As in Professor Goodwitch, from Beacon. And after I got away from her… who do I run into at a bar but Ozpin himself."

"Ozpin?" Junior furrows his brow. "Wait… are you telling me-"

"Yup," Naruto sighs. "Bought me a bowl of ramen too."

"Well, what'd you say?"

"What do you think I said? I told him I'd think about it."

"And by think about it, you mean you're going to _actually_ think about it and not have some knee jerk reaction and do something stupid like running off to Mistral?"

Averting his eyes, Naruto pokes at the counter and mumbles, "Well not _Mistral_ … everyone goes to Mistral when they're trying to disappear…"

Junior brings a hand to his forehead. A sigh. He shakes his head, stands, paces for a bit and turns back to look at the white-haired boy. "What is it? Just what's got you so freaked out that you're acting so stupid? Is it the eye?"

"What do you mean stupid-?"

"Do you just not want to go back to school? That it? Cause I hope you do realize you're about to piss away a once in a lifetime chance, here."

"Once in a lifetime my dick," Naruto scowls. "Come on, there's no way Ozpin really wants someone like me at Beacon. How do you know he's not just trying to put me six feet under like every other damned hunter I've met?"

"Because we both know if he was, you never would have walked out of that bar."

"We're in the center of a city. There's no way he'd risk fighting me here, no matter how tired I was from fighting Goodwitch."

"And you think he'd be willing to do it at Beacon? With all of those kids and students around? What? You think he's going to come at you with an army of kids who can't even legally buy alcohol? Call me crazy, but I don't think Ozpin of all people would want to repeat the same mistake Ironwood did. No, I don't think that. I know that. He knows that, and _you_ know that too."

His jaw clenches. Naruto balls his hand into a fist, the memories of that day coming back in flashes of crimson and violence, dying his left eye in a bloody red. His head throbs with a dull ache, from his sleep-deprived brain, from his ruined, right eye, and from the anger and indignation lancing through his mind like fire.

The crimson eye narrows at the man. "Choose your next words carefully, Xiong."

For a moment, the man seems to wither beneath his glare. Then, Junior swallows, squares his jaw and takes a step towards the crimson-eyed boy.

"That's not why you don't want to go to Beacon. You don't want to go because you're _scared_."

"Scared?" Naruto gives the man a baffled look, getting to his feet. "The hell do I have to be scared of?"

"A bunch of children?" he asks, raising his left hand.

Then, he holds up his right. "A couple of seniors? The professors? Those washed up hunters who do nothing but grade papers all day? There isn't a single person at that school I couldn't wipe the floor with in a real fight!"

" _ **Then why are you trying to run away?"**_

The question and its answer hits him like a tankard filled with ice water. He can almost hear a rush of air as that fire goes out and all of the anger drains out of him in an instant. And in its place, it leaves nothing but ash and cold and a long-held shame and regret.

"Because I…" his head lowers, even the crimson in his eye fading back to an ashen blue. A twitch. "I…"

" _You are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox!"_

" _You are… and always will be… Uzumaki Naruto! Never forget that!"_

Naruto falls back into the seat as the faint memory of two voices echo in his mind. It's been so long, so long that he can hardly even remember the particularities of their faces or the intonations of their voices. Time has long reduced such details to ash. All that remains are the words and the emotions that flutter in his heart at their remembrance.

 _-because the last time I trusted someone like that, I lost everything._

Those are the words hanging on the tip of his tongue, kept in place only by a potent mixture of pride and stubbornness.

A hand falls on his shoulder.

"Look," Junior says. "I know you've got your problems. Like seriously. A week tops and anyone with two brain cells to rub together could tell that you've got some serious issues. Honestly, it is very concerning. People like me tend to be the first to die when people like you flip their shit."

Naruto perks a brow. "Is this supposed to be reassuring?"

"I'm getting to that," the man says without the slightest change in expression. "The point is… I know you have your reasons for not wanting to go. Every time you come in here, you're missing an arm, a leg, your skin, an eye. I know the reason you don't want to go sure as hell isn't just as simple as you being weary of Ozpin. But… even if you don't trust Ozpin, even if you think huntsmen are lame, even if you just don't want to sit in a classroom and listen to someone lecture at you for hours on end… don't you think it's worth it?"

"To get away from this same old part you always have to play, of the bad guy, of the monster and the villain… to see what the other side is like, even for a little? Don't you want to remember what life is like without that stupid mask?"

"And even if it doesn't work out…" Junior squeezes his shoulder, giving him a tiny smile, one so small it is almost hidden under that beard of his. "Well, if it doesn't work out, I'll treat you to some ramen. How about that?"

A moment passes and Naruto says nothing. Junior gives his shoulder a shake.

"Come on… just think about it. You'll be able to see all kinds of semblances from all over the world while they're _not_ trying to kill you… and Goodwitch would have to see you. Every. Single. Day."

With each word, the corners of the boy's lips begin to twitch upward until finally, finally he cracks a small smile.

"You're trying really hard here, aren't you?"

"Again. You flip your shit? Like, 90% chance I'm one of the first to die. And there's a significantly less chance of that happening if you go to one of those schools. Don't get the wrong idea here, I'm looking out for my own skin."

A sigh. Naruto stares at nothing for a moment, that little smile stuck on his face. And then-

"I guess… I do kind of want to see that girl's semblance up close."

Junior smirks. Claps him on the back. "Make sure you get a couple of good shots in for me and the twins."

"Right," Naruto snorts. He closes his eye, leaning back against the bar. "Thanks, Junior."

Junior makes a face.

"Junior? What happened to Xiong?"

"As if. 'Hei Xiong' is way too cool a name for a guy who's basically a boss mook like you. Junior's a much better fit."

"This coming from the guy named after ramen."

"This coming from the guy named after ramen who could kick your ass with both arms tied behind his back."

"This coming from the angst-y brat who needed a dare-to-be-badass speech from a 'boss mook'."

"This coming from the guy who just admitted he's a boss mook."

"This coming from-"

This goes on for some time.

* * *

 **AN: This chapter. Too angsty? Not angsty enough? I'm leaning a bit more towards the first to be honest.**

 **So, next week I might take a break. Generally, my plan for releasing chapters is, I am going to do weekly releases to finish an 'arc', and then take a break to prepare for the next one. In this case, I already have a lot of the next arc pre-written so right now I'm debating on whether or not to take that break. If it's something you care to look out for, I'll probably put a message on my profile. Or something.**

 **So questions:**

 **Angst level? Too high? Not high enough?**

 **Would people care for a one-shot of if Naruto had decided not to go to Beacon? There's a reason I decided to go with this route, and I'm sure if I did the one-shot, it'd become apparent enough...**


	6. Chapter 6: First Impressions

" _Ms. Schnee, we will be arriving at Beacon Academy shortly. I do hope your flight was enjoyable."_

It was.

She steps off her father's private aircraft, the pilot going around back to unload her luggage. The whole of Beacon Academy stands before her, the lush viridian of Vale warm and welcoming compared to the harsh whites and grays of home.

No. That's not quite right. For now and for the next four years, _this_ is her home.

Oh, it was a chore convincing father to allow her to attend a huntsman academy outside of Atlas. She has the scar to show for it. But now, now she's _finally_ slipped out from under his thumb. And she couldn't be happier about it.

The streets and courtyard are empty. Of course. She _did_ arrive just early enough to avoid the rest of the rabble. There is no doubt in her mind there will be some sort of initiation test to weed out the rest of the masses, a test she will pass _flawlessly_. To others, to the incapable and ill-prepared, it may be the final test, the last daunting hurdle they must overcome to enter the gates of the shining Beacon. For her? Nothing more than yet another stepping stone on the path to her future.

The _biggest_ hurdle for her is long behind her, still in Atlas, probably stewing in his office with a glass of scotch. Just imagining the look on his face is enough to bring a beautiful smile to her lips.

Truly, there is nothing in the world that could possibly spoil her mood. And as the help fetches her things, she takes a moment to gaze upon the new world set before her.

It is a beautiful day outside.

The sun is shining.

Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming. Some guy is passed out under a tree.

On days like these-

" _Excuse me?!"_ she all but shrieks, channeling a truly monumental amount of contempt into only two, short words. "Do you know where you are?!"

No response. Wrinkling her lips into a dainty frown, she advances on whoever it is who would have the _audacity_ to fall asleep in front of an establishment of such prestige and nobility as Beacon.

A head of white hair comes into view, a messy mop of faded gray, almost like ash. Not at all like the finely groomed, pure white snow of her and her sister. His orange and black tracksuit is wrinkled, covered in a thin film of filth. Almost as if to put the finishing touches on the image of 'complete bum', a cheap knapsack sits at his side, his legs strewn out over the grass.

And last, but not least, three whisker marks line both his cheeks.

A faunus.

Her frown twists into a full-blown scowl.

And that scowl dials back to a puzzled frown as she gets close enough to get a good look at him.

It is a faunus. A young faunus, maybe a year or two younger than her. But…

She crouches before him, putting her face as close to his as she dares, narrowing her eyes to make sure they aren't playing tricks on her.

… Is it a faunus?

As she gets closer, those 'whiskers' begin to look less like actual whiskers and more like someone took a pen and drew three lines over both his cheeks. As she gets closer, she notices the faint scar over his right eye, one almost a mirror of her own. And as she gets closer, she notices the rapid twitching behind his eyelids, the slight grimace and clenched jaw.

It might not be a faunus. But it is someone having a nightmare.

She should wake him. If not just because this is most certainly _not_ the place to be napping, then for his own sake as well.

"Hey-"

She reaches for his shoulder. Wrinkles her nose, fingers stopping just short of his filthy tracksuit. It is not exactly covered in grime, but it wouldn't surprise her if he had simply sat down here the day before and slept through the entire night. Searching for somewhere to nudge him awake, her eyes are inevitably drawn to those strange markings on his cheeks.

… It's fine, right?

There are no unacceptable or unreasonable motivations behind it. His clothes really are just _filthy_ and it would be even more wrong for her to simply kick him awake. After all, he is having a nightmare. So she has to wake him up somehow. So it's fine.

It's fine, isn't it?

There is no one to the left. No one to the right. Her father's butlers are still unloading her luggage. She reaches out, curiosity and a strange sense of familiarity drawing her hand not to his shoulder or his arm, but to his cheek, to those strange 'whiskers but not whiskers'.

His skin is soft and warm. His cheek is smooth, her thumb tracing the topmost whisker on the right side. The effect is instantaneous. The grimace vanishes, the shaking stops, and the white-haired boy seems almost to relax into her hand.

' _They're like birthmarks…'_ she realizes as she continues to stroke the marks on the boy's cheeks, as though in a trance.

Up close, they are rather cute.

"Nyaa…"

"What are you doing?"

"WAH!"

With a shriek, she falls on her rear. The boy awakens with a yawn. His eyes are a striking shade of blue, still foggy with the haze of sleep. The right is a few shades lighter than the left, a faded cobalt that seems almost to not reflect light. Those mismatched eyes regard her and blink, one eye not quite closing and opening as fast as the other, their gaze dropping ever so slightly.

"Mmm… white frills?"

It takes two seconds. One to get over her shock. Two to follow his line of sight. Her face going flush with anger, she pushes down her skirt.

"Where do you think you are looking, you degenerate lecher?!" she all but screams.

The deviant perks a brow. "I'm not the one going up to people while they're sleeping and stroking their faces. And then flashing them, apparently."

Wrath turns to embarrassment. Embarrassment doubles right back to wrath. She opens her mouth to retort, only for a string of half-formed words and angry noises to spill from her lips.

"Anyway, I've got some stuff to take care of before the rest of the kiddies gets here," the unappreciative, unintelligent, lazy, dirty, perverted, no-good, scruffy-looking, _not-cute-AT-ALL_ scoundrel gets to his feet, throwing his knapsack over his shoulder. He makes a strange shape with his right hand, his left eye flashing gold.

"See ya around, flasher-chan."

With that, he vanishes in a swirl of embers.

Her expression goes blank. She stares, eyes fixed on the spot where _he_ once stood. Rage bubbles up within her, filling to the point of breaking, like an overflowed chalice, bubbling and churning and thrashing, her metaphorical lid kept chained in place only by the cold indifference of her self-control. But with the target of her grievances gone, alone with no one around but the help, there is nowhere for it to go but up and out.

Fire and fury melt the chains. The whole of her anger erupting out of her, Weiss Schnee throws up her arms and lets out a scream.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(I)

Chapter 6: First Impressions

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me."

They step out of the airship side by side, as close as family, as different as the moon and the sun. One is small and cute, a face he is, unfortunately, already familiar with. The other…

An orange scarf wraps around her neck. Her hair is like fire, a free-flowing stream of golden blond reaching all the way down to her waist. Her eyes are a soft purple, the only odd color out in her ensemble of yellow and brown. Her skin is pale, the same shade as that of the silver-eyed child gawking at other people's weapons beside her.

Seriously. Why is that girl even here? Isn't she, like, twelve?

"So that's a Yang, huh…?"

Yep. Definitely not a guy. Even if he wasn't half blind out of his right eye, that outfit of hers does little to hide a combination of curves and muscles that'd make any man putty in her hands.

He sits in a tree, all but hidden beneath the leaves and branches as he lounges on a particularly large branch. Totally not ogling wolfie's hot sister, the clone of Uzumaki Naruto tilts his head and ponders his next move.

"This feels a bit too contrived to be a coincidence…"

He could understand if she had busted up Junior's nightclub as revenge for him taking her little sister's scythe. But, that had happened before the night when he had first met the silver-eyed pain. That they not only know each other, but are apparently related? That sets off just about every alarm his paranoid brain has to offer. For a moment, he regards the little girl in the red hood, wondering if he had been set up, wondering if this was all just an elaborate ruse orchestrated by Ozpin.

Then, the girl proceeds to go googly eyed at the sight of some dude's flaming sword. And the thought is promptly banished from his mind in its entirety.

…

Really. Did she just come here to see her sister off or something? There's no way she's actually going to be in the same class as him, right?

"So, let's see," Naruto scratches his cheek. He watches as the girl reaches behind her to take out a weapon, what appears to be a retracted, silver greatsword with a red handle and a clockwork at its crossguard.

He watches as the girl appears to visibly wilt, putting on a rather weak smile as she regards the new weapon with nowhere near the enthusiasm she had when he complimented the sniper-scythe she had back then.

"Beat up the hot sister… and give wolfie her sniper-scythe back to her," he identifies his two objectives. "Now, question is, how am I going to do both of those things without her realizing it's me?"

It'd be annoying if wolfie recognized him for whatever reason and had a freak out in the middle of the courtyard. He needs to separate them. Somehow.

His original target then proceeds to rush off with a gaggle of faceless friends, the sheer force with which she was just ditched causing the poor girl to spin like a top.

"Huh, guess that solves that problem."

The clone gets to his feet, preparing to make his appearance. And no sooner does a certain heiress come into view, her butlers pushing a trolley of suitcases.

A frown crosses his lips.

"Avoid Weiss Schnee at all costs."

That was the order his creator had given him. He understands why, even as a clone. And as much as he'd like to throw caution to the wind and get this over with all at once, like ripping off a Band-Aid, the potential consequences if things go wrong are far worse than some little girl being angry he took her scythe.

Still, it'd probably be better for him in the long run. Better for both of them, in fact. But even as a clone, he can't just go around doing whatever he wants while leaving the original to deal with the consequences.

"Avoid, huh…?" the clone bites his thumb with an annoyed look. The original probably figured he and his fellow clones would think that way, which is why he gave such a specific order.

A grin.

"Ah, well since wolfie's all alone I should go take care of that thing now!" the clone shrugs in a 'what can you do' manner. "I sure hope Weiss doesn't randomly come out of nowhere or sneak up on me! Now that would just be such a shame! After all, I, as such a dutiful clone, would never dare to disobey my dear creator's orders!"

With that, he hops out of the tree and blends in seamlessly with the crowd, even as they head in one direction and he goes in the other, making his way over just as the butlers push the trolley of suitcases behind the red-hooded girl, pushing it behind her just as she falls back, sending both the luggage and the still-wearing-a-'combat'-skirt girl crashing into the dirt.

Huh. So it's polka dots today.

"What are you doing?!" he hears a yell, the raging heiress leveling a truly magnificent glare at the poor rose.

This should be fun to watch.

As he moves to get a better view of the ensuing carnage, one of the faceless shadows making their way down the courtyard steps into his path. A taller guy in fairly bland armor with slicked back hair and a certain air about him that just screams 'arrogant prick'.

The prick's eyes lock onto him, onto the whisker marks over his cheeks. A smirk. He positions himself for the patented 'establishing the pecking order' shoulder bump.

Sort of. In terms of height, even his shoulder is a bit above where the clone's face is.

Still, it's not like this is the first time he's ever had to deal with this sort of thing. Such is the life of a child in the business of killers and thieves. Granted, it does usually end in extreme pain and partial dismemberment for the other party, complete with them shitting their pants when they finally realize who the boy they just picked a fight with really is, but considering how he is supposed to be acting like a hunter, he supposes he can let the guy off with a warning.

After all, hunters are supposed to be the good guys, right? And it wouldn't be very hunter-like of him to break someone's kneecaps just for bumping into him.

Stripping them in the middle of a crowd on the other hand…

The clone stays his course. Does his best to keep the smirk off his face. Wind gathers about his palm, shaped into an invisible torrent of microscopic. He reaches out, only a slight brush needed to unleash the sharpened wind, and-

-blinks as a hand grabs his shoulder and pulls him away before he can get close enough to unleash them.

The crowd continues to bustle past, his savior/captor holding him in place as the douchebag disappears into the distance.

"Uh, I totally had that covered," he says, taking a good look at the owner of the hand. "But thanks. I guess."

Her outfit is a mix and match of white with mostly black. A large, black ribbon hides the two fluffy cat ears atop a head of silken black hair. Her skin is fair. Her sharp features are set in an uncaring mask, amber eyes with a light purple eyeshadow still stuck to the pages of her book. For all appearances, the mysterious girl appears to ignore him, the only acknowledgement of his existence the hand still gripping his jacket.

"Um… hi there?" Silence. He perks a brow. "Hello? Can I help you?"

No response. Okay then.

"Not that I don't appreciate the save and it is a fantastic view, but as much as I'd like to stay here staring at your ass, I've kind of got some business to take care of over there, sooo~…"

That gets her attention. She snaps the book shut as the rest of the crowd finishes filtering past them.

"You shouldn't be trying to pick a fight," she says at last, letting go of his shoulder.

"What? With generic-school-bully-guy? I wasn't going to break anything." A pause. "Permanently." Another pause. "Probably."

The taller girl gives him a look over, her eyes lingering on his cheeks. "You're pretty young to be attending Beacon. What's your name?"

"I'm Naruto. You?"

"Blake," she tucks away her book. "Listen, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you probably ought to cover up those marks on your cheeks. It's not safe for faunus around here, not with how on edge people are with the Demon Fox running around."

Ha, funny. The clone smiles.

"Thanks for the advice, but I think I'm good. Besides, I'm not a pussy like you."

"Excuse me?" the apparent insult only gets a raised brow out of the girl.

"These whiskers aren't real whiskers," he grins, flicking three fingers over his cheeks. Then, he points at the top of his head. "Those ears on the other hand…"

That really gets a reaction. Her eyes go wide and Blake clutches at her ribbon, finding that no, it has not slipped off and her ears should still be hidden and how can he see them?

"A lot of people from the Island, they can channel their semblances to do crazy things with their eyes," the clone of Naruto begins to explain, complete with extravagant hand motions. "Some can see stuff in slow motion! Others can see just where to tap to make someone go 'boom'! I knew a guy whose family could light people on fire just by glaring at them! But me? I have something I like to call the 'Mystic Eyes of Panty Perception'. Which lets me see past combat skirts. And ribbons, apparently."

A sigh. The clone flops onto the ground, face planting against the pavement. "I swear that freaking pervert put a curse on me or something…"

"You're… from the Island of the Elementals?"

He rolls onto his back to give her a flat look.

"Yep. And, uh, for the record, I don't really care that you have cat ears. I know some people in the Kingdoms are like that buuut~, when you've seen giant snakes and toads the size of mountains, you tend to care a bit less when someone has a tail or something. Long as you don't try to eat me, you're cool in my book."

A ghost of a smile tugs at her lips. Naruto brings a finger to his chin and scrunches up his eyebrows.

"Actually, on second thought I do care. Is there a tail to go with those ears? A taste for tuna? Do you have mating cycles?"

The tiny hint of a smile vanishes. Blake crosses her arms, perks a brow and gives him a dry stare. "If I answer your questions, will you answer one of mine?"

"Sure, go for it."

"Yes, yes and no." she answers in monotone.

"… You have a tail?"

She rolls her eyes. "Yes."

"Can… can I see it?" Naruto asks with a childish expression of awe.

"No."

"Awww~…"

"If you're not a faunus, then why do you have those marks on your cheeks?"

"That's-"

A sneeze interrupts him. They both turn as a small, honestly somewhat comical explosion echoes through the courtyard. Through the fading smoke, silhouettes of red and white become clear at the center of the blast radius.

A bottle of powdered, red dust flies through the air. Still laying on the ground, Naruto catches the bottle, glancing at the logo on its side.

A pure, white snowflake.

"What was that?" she asks.

"Probably some idiot mishandling a jar of powdered dust," the clone shrugs, securing the lid on the jar. "Shame it was such a small explosion. I'd have laughed if one of them actually got blown off the cliff. Heh, that'd have been funny."

"That's not very nice."

"I'm not very nice," another shrug. "Hey, you mind giving this back for me? I'd do it myself, but for the sake of our ears, you should probably do it."

"I thought you said you weren't a faunus."

"I'm not… but, mmm… how do I put this…"

"… You've met her before."

"… I have."

"… and?"

"And… I, uh, may or may not have given her a minor, mental breakdown. You wouldn't have happened to hear a scream when you were arriving, would you?"

"Ah." So that's what that was. A sigh. "Give me the dust."

"Thanks, Blain, I owe you one!"

"It's Blake-"

Pop.

Blake perks a brow as the boy tosses the jar up at her and promptly bursts into smoke. She catches the jar. Furrows her brow. Glances around, wondering if she can catch a glimpse of the white-haired boy in the distance.

"What the… a Kage Bunshin?"

* * *

 _At the same time…_

* * *

Yang Xaio Long is no stranger to a fight.

After all, her dad _is_ a combat instructor at one of the best prep schools in Vale and as much as she and her little sister always begged him not to, the lectures sometimes didn't end even after they went home. So whenever Ruby would run off to train with their uncle, she was always the one left to bear the brunt of her dad's 'teacher-ness'.

Long story short, the eldest daughter of the Xaio Long household knows her way around a fight. And one lesson she always took to heart was to aim for the soft spots.

Upper arms. Collarbone. Windpipe. Temple. Diaphragm. Ribs. Thighs. Groin.

Especially that last one.

The phrase 'grab them by the balls' comes to mind. Such a vulnerable pair of targets, it's always the quickest way to get a guy to bend over, both figuratively _and_ literally. Who can blame her for taking advantage of such a big weakness?

After all, there's a reason they make cups. But most guys don't go around all day wearing protection downstairs. So getting a good chokehold on the boys is always a good way to get most guys to stop thinking with their lower head and start thinking with their upper one.

" _Oh hey, you got a hair sticking out-"_

Case in point. The little, whiskered boy who just ripped out a strand of her precious hair. Sure she's pissed. But the kid looks like he's the same age as her little sister, so it's not like she can just clock him and call it a day. So, give him a good squeeze to show him what happens when he messes with the grownups and send him on his way.

Except that's not what happened.

Yang looks to her right hand, held back inches from the boy's family jewels by his left hand.

She looks to her left hand, the hand currently wrapped around the boy's wrist, his own right grab firmly grasping her left boob.

She gives it a tug. His hand fails to budge.

"What're you doing?" she asks with a raised brow. His response may or may not decide whether he still gets that squeeze or a swift knee between the legs.

"Uh…" the boy begins, his eyes fixated on her chest. "Well, you went for my boys and since turnabout is fair play and all that, I figured I'd go for your girls..."

That gets a smirk and half of a chuckle out of her. "Fair enough. But my eyes are up here."

"Yeah… just… one second…" His cheek twitches. His lips press into a thin line. His brow furrows as he strains to lift his eyes. To his credit, the boy appears to actually be trying to tear his eyes away from her boobs, for what she can only guess is a combination of teen-boy hormones and the sensation in his right hand to keep his eyes rooted firmly in her cleavage.

His eyes inch upward. And they fall back down. And upward again. And back down.

"Ugh… it's like they have their own center of gravity…"

"Want me to get you a stepladder?"

That manages to do it. His face goes blank. His eyes rise upward to meet her own, his mismatched blues narrowing in a glare. The grip around her wrist tighten as a smirk stretches across his whiskered cheeks.

"Thanks, but I think I'm good. After all, this is just the perfect height to _kick your ass_."

Aw, how cute. "Big words for such a little man."

"I'd say the results speak for themselves," he gives her boob a squeeze. "Bit slow on the draw there, eh _cowgirl_?"

Her semblance rumbles to life, budding embers painting her eyes a fiery crimson. "You looking for a fight, _whiskers_?"

"Bit slow on the uptake too."

Okay. Kid's going down.

She wasn't exactly _planning_ to get into a fight first day at Beacon. Especially not with some kid who looks two years young to be here. But, if the strength behind the grip on her wrist is any indication, this kid isn't just visiting. This strength is telling her he's part of this coming year's class, along with her and her baby sister.

This strength is telling her that this is going to be _good_.

Yang tightens her grip and the grip on her is tightened in turn. She pushes against him, testing that strength and finding it a match for her own, the two of them inching closer and closer together as their grins grow wider, hungrier, the distance between them becoming mere inches, mostly constituted of the height difference between them. He may be shorter than her, but he is taller than her sister and right now, his face is so close to hers that she can faintly smell his breath.

It smells like ramen.

Faintly, a part of her wonders just what her breath smells like to him. And that thought is interrupted as she feels his hand shift, the thumb and index finger of his right hand finding a certain nub through her clothing, pinching it between them.

His expression goes blank, eyes narrowing.

"Junior sends his regards."

Those words cut through the anger and excitement clouding her thoughts. For a moment, Yang Xaio Long stares at the younger boy in shock.

And in that moment, he squeezes.

" **YEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOO-"  
**

* * *

 **"-OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"**

"Oh my. That's the second one today."

"… This is _his_ doing."

"Now Glynda, I understand the two of you have some history, but I don't think it's fair to assume Naruto is the c-"

" **YOU'RE** _ **DEAD**_ **, WHISKERS!"**

"-is doing all this without cause. I'm sure he has his reasons."

Glynda gives him a dry stare. Ozpin takes a sip from his mug as the students begin to filter into the auditorium, some backtracking to find the source of the angry yell, others hurrying into the building to seek refuge from it.

"… You know why this is necessary."

"That child is a menace and a danger to all of those around him."

"But he is still a child," the headmaster says, staring somewhat blankly into his mug. "It is the nature of children to seek guidance. And when they do, they _will_ find it."

"It is only a question of when… and _from who_."

* * *

He sprints to somewhere amidst the sprawling streets and buildings of Beacon Academy, the fiery blond hot on his metaphorical tail. Step one of his plan is complete, namely pissing her off and getting her attention. Now all that's left is to lead her somewhere where he can proceed to knock her around for a bit until she lets loose with that semblance of hers. That's the whole reason he tracked her down, after all. He could care less that she beat up Junior and the twins and trashed the club. All he really cares about is seeing her semblance in action up close.

Really.

Even if he doesn't use his tails and just sticks to hand-to-hand and a little bit of wind manipulation, it'll be annoying to fight in front of a crowd. So many people mean so many more chances someone might connect the dots and piece together his identity. It'd be best if they fought in a secluded place, with no one around to see. That is what the S-rank mercenary tells himself as he flees from the angry huntress-trainee.

"Quit running away!"

"Quit trying to punch me in the balls!"

"What's wrong, whiskers?! I thought turnabout was fair play!"

"I _pinched_ your nipple! I did not try to _pulverize_ your boobs!"

It's not because he absolutely does not want to find out whether or not he can regenerate critical damage to _down there_.

Nope.

Not at all.

The street comes to an end. The side of a building looms before him. His left eye flickers with gold, a thin layer of aura covering the soles of his feet and the palm of his hand as he runs at the wall in a dead sprint. He slams the hand against the wall, clinging to the surface with aura as he throws himself upward and cartwheels onto the wall, his sandals sticking to the vertical surface like it is flat ground as he runs straight up the side of the building.

There are two cracks behind him, the simultaneous firing of pair of dust rounds. He turns, expecting to see a pair of bullets whizzing through the air at him.

Instead, what he finds is a missile of burning gold, her fist pulled back with a promise of pain and retribution in her crimson eyes.

A quick burst of wind propels him upward. She plows into the wall, reinforced cement and stone shattering into rubble. Naruto lets out a sigh. He looks to the smoking hole in the wall with a dry expression.

"The witch is going to blame me for that…" he notes. "Well, at least I should be safe up he-"

And the fiery blond bursts out of the smoke, charging up the wall as if it is flat ground.

His eyes widen. He just manages to dodge the right hook, ducking under a jab and blocking a wide swing. A hard punch finds his ribs. Naruto winces. He staggers. She draws back a fist, winding up for a knockout.

Too slow.

He raises his arm, drops his shoulder back and balls his hand into a fist. A step. The punch flies past his cheek. He throws his weight into a simple, unenhanced punch, one still strong enough to down a grown man through raw muscle power alone.

His fist connects with her cheek. Her head jerks back, golden locks fluttering out behind her. With his fist still pressed into her cheek, the girl rotates her head back around. Gives him a lopsided grin.

And her fist slams into his face, propelling him the rest of the way up the wall and into the open air. He flips once, twice and falls in an arc, crashing onto the rooftop, opting to just lay there and let his healing factor work on the pain in his ribs and skull.

"Ugh… what crazy strength…"

A part of him is telling him to end it now. Don't play around. Take her down in one quick strike before she can charge up that semblance of hers. It is a cold, dark and sharp part of himself, one honed from everything he's learned in the six, nearly seven, years since he first left the great walls of his home village for the outside world of Remnant. It is the part that definitely isn't angry and wanting payback for Junior, Melanie and Miltia, the lingering embers of the rage he had felt when he first came across the ruined nightclub, the voice whispering _what if this one wields the same power as the one who took your eye, what reason do you have to not snuff out that puny flame of hers in return?_

It is, thankfully, drowned out by a combination of 'Junior's a bit of a shit so he probably deserved it', 'so what if she does', and 'those boobs'.

"Oh crap, didn't feel any aura there... Hey whisker! You okay up there?"

Another voice, this one not in his head, calls out to him from over the ledge. Its owner leaps onto the roof, her eyes returned to a soft purple and her anger seemingly appeased by the application of her fist to his face. "Didn't hit you too hard back there, did I?"

"I'm good," Naruto sits up, rubbing his face. He hops to his feet. "You caught me off guard. Didn't know you guys in the Kingdoms learned how to manipulate your aura outside of Mistral."

"Yeah, well, dad's a teacher at Signal," she explains, flipping her hair. "Apparently he learned it from some ninjas he knew in his heyday. He's been pushing to get it added to the standard curriculum but it's pretty hard stuff and no one wants to get an F trying to learn how to walk up walls."

"Is that right?"

She puts her hands on her hips. Tilts her head, giving him an appraising look. "You know, you don't seem all that mad about me trashing Junior's club."

Patting his ribs, Naruto shrugs. "Meh. Considering what I did when I first came around, it'd be kind of hypocritical for me to be angry at you for doing what you did. Besides, it's not like they're dead or anything... I've just got some time to kill before the opening assembly and heard you were in the area, so here I am."

She perks a brow. Quirks her lips as she processes this new bit of info. "Junior didn't send you?"

"He's the one who told me about you but no."

"So you're actually, like, a student here?"

"That's the plan, at least."

"Hm. Cool." She regards him with a smile, tilting her head. "Well then, not that I don't enjoy a good fight, but if you aren't here to get payback for Junior, then why _did_ you come after little, ol' me?"

She asks this, wearing an all too fake expression of air-headed innocence. As if she knows full well the reason why he or any other guy would approach her.

"Your semblance."

Her eyebrows shoot up in response to his answer.

"I want to see your semblance," Naruto explains, his hands clenched into fist and an almost childish spark of excitement in his eyes. Then, he closes his eyes, turns his palms upwards and shrugs. "It just so happens that seeing it apparently involves smacking you around for a bit, so I figured why not get some justice for Junior's juniors while I'm at it."

"His _juniors_ , huh?" she chuckles, apparently approving of the stupid pun. She crosses her arms. Shifts her weight from one foot to the other, looking the boy over, not quite sure what to make of him. "You know, I don't think I've ever had a guy come up to me _wanting_ to see my semblance. That's usually about the point when they run for the hills. Junior tell you my name?"

"Nope."

"Well then, I better introduce myself," she smirks, gives him a wink as she raises her arms and takes a modified boxer's stance, fists held forward with her knees slightly bent. "Yang Xaio Long. Hope you don't expect me to go easy on you."

"I'm the-eh, erm," he catches himself with a cough, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth. "I'm… Naruto."

The name is almost unfamiliar as it rolls off his tongue.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

The name is almost unfamiliar. But just saying it is enough to bring a small smile to his face.

His left eye sparks, blue igniting into gold. Naruto lowers his arm and returns her smirk with one of his own.

"And I hope you don't expect me to _let you_."

The sun shines overhead. A warm breeze rolls over the rooftops. A tiny shadow circles above, a single black feather falling through the air, rocking back and forth as it lands between them.

A sharp crack. The tiles shatter beneath her feet and she dashes forward, a fist cocked back. The punch flies. It is weaker, slower than the one that had thrown him up onto the rooftop, all too easy for Naruto to leap over it, grabbing her wrist as he flips over her, yanking her arm back and spinning mid-air as he pulls her off her feet and throws her downward.

She hits the rooftop with a grunt. A blast of wind smashes into her, sending her tumbling towards the ledge. Yang rolls into a crouch, slamming a hand onto the roof to stop her momentum. Her boots skid to a stop inches from the end of the roof. Her head snaps backs up to stare at him, her features blank with shock.

Then, the smirk comes back as a hungry grin, her eyes flashing crimson.

Her fists slam together, the bracelets around her wrists unfolding into a pair of yellow arm guards, plates covering the back of her hands and her forearms, two silver barrels poking out in the narrow space between her hand and the armoring. She throws her arms back. A flash and a loud bang come from each of the gauntlets. The recoil hurls her forward and she leaps across the rooftop, rushing at him with a series of kicks and punches.

He manages to avoid the initial flurry of punches, blocking and ducking and weaving, feeling each blocked hit even through his reinforcement. Two punches catch him across the chest. Naruto slips under the third, his fist meeting her ribs with a burst of wind. He ducks under a hook, spinning around and slamming his elbow into her side.

She staggers back. He plants his foot into her stomach, snaps the same leg up to catch her on the chin and leaps forward, spinning and bringing his other leg around in a roundhouse kick.

Yang catches his leg, traps it under her arm and draws her fist back. At the same time, Naruto raises his arm, wind gathering around his hand, his fingers held flat like the edge of a knife.

And in that instant, they both freeze, looking to each other with wide eyes and blank expressions. As if just daring the other to make the first move. There is a moment as they both simply stare at one another, neither saying anything, neither moving an inch.

"Sooo…" Yang breaks the silence first, her fist still raised. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the thing wind is best at is… cutting, isn't it?"

"… It is." Naruto says simply, wind still swirling in his palm. His eyes shift to her flowing, golden locks. "I know I kind of yanked out a strand to piss you off, but you've got some really pretty hair."

"Thanks."

 _No punchy between the legs. No cut-y with the wind._

They reach a mutual understanding. A nonverbal agreement passes between them. Another beat passes in silence.

And Yang slams her fist into his thigh.

"Nh-!"

Naruto winces. She shoves him away and he stumbles back, pain and numbness racing up and down his leg. A storm of punches chases after him and he is forced to block, backpedaling on a half numb leg. A quick jab manages to slip past his defense, nailing him on the nose. It opens the way for a hard hit to the stomach and a round of punches to the chest. He catches one, kicking her back and flipping backwards to put some distance between them. He lands in a crouch, bringing his arm back with his hand held open like a claw, air compressing into his palm.

He thrusts the hand forward. A blast of wind rips across the rooftop. She plants her feet, draws back her arm and-

"HA-!"

-meets the blast with a punch, the compressed wind breaking and curving about her fist, stripping the tiles from the rooftop around her but leaving her and the tiles behind her completely untouched.

Naruto stares, his eyes wide and unblinking.

Yang gives him a grin, lowering her smoking fist.

"Come on whiskers, you want to see my semblance, you're going to have to do better than that!"

Naruto says nothing, staring in silence at the huntress in training. Then, slowly, his hand closes into a fist. And he returns her grin, wind and aura gathering into his feet.

A hollow clap. A burst of speed. He closes the distance between them in a single step, his fist cocked back.

To Yang, it is as if he had vanished and rematerialized in front of her. Her eyes widen.

They both throw a punch at the same time. Their fists meet. And a storm of force explodes outwards from his fist, blowing her back, her boots carving two trenches into the rooftop as she skids backwards.

Another hollow 'whomp' comes from in front of her. He vanishes again. Where there was once a white-haired boy with whisker marks on his cheeks, there is now only a trail of flittering embers, those embers leading right behind her. She turns, immediately throwing her arms up in a guard. A kick comes smashing into her, erupting with another shockwave that throws her off her feet, sending her tumbling across the rooftop.

A shadow falls over her. Aura flows into her hand. She slams a palm into the roof, the aura anchoring her and bringing her to a sudden stop, the shadow falling past her, Naruto dropping his foot into and through the tiling.

The broken tiles trap his foot. The aura securing her grip disperses. Her gauntlet fires a burst downward. The momentum swings her upwards, back onto her feet and she fires a second round, rising into a spinning kick. He ducks under her leg. Frees his foot with a burst of air and flips back away from a heel drop, rolling into a crouch.

Yang takes up her stance. Naruto leaps at her. Fists and elbows fly as their arms blur together, blocking and dodging and searching for any opening they can find, neither willing to give an inch, both fighters using their aura to anchor themselves in place. She jams her knuckles into his bicep. He catches her across the cheek. Her fist slams into his ribs. He drives a knee into her stomach. They trade blow after blow, her aura absorbing the brunt of the damage and a combination of reinforcement and his rapid healing keeping him on his feet.

She matches his speed with her technique. He matches her strength with his wind. The rooftop trembles beneath them, the tiles popping out of place, shattering into pieces as the shockwaves from their fists sweep them away, the air around the two beginning to spark and flicker.

He slips around a punch, slamming his fist into her face with enough force to crack the tiles beneath their feet. Her head snaps back and her upper body follows. She begins to fall back and, for a moment, Naruto worries he may have put too much strength into that last punch.

And that worry is promptly discarded as she catches herself, swinging back around with a hook that rattles his teeth and sends a shiver cresting through the rooftop tiles.

He falls back a step. Yang lunges forward with her right arm pulled all the way back. Her hair trails behind her, golden threads beginning to glow white with light. Naruto digs his heel into the rooftop, drawing his own right arm back, wind swirling over his hand.

Both teenagers slam their fists into the other's stomach, the force echoing outward, transferring downward through their aura, through their feet and into the rooftop, shards of broken tile bouncing into the air as the entire building shutters and groans. Her legs buckle. His do as well. She swings her left arm around to grab the back of his right shoulder as she begins to collapse and he does the same, the two of them half hugging, half leaning on each other with their knuckles buried in the other's gut.

"That's more like it," Yang half whispers, half pants, into his ear. "You were holding out on me, whiskers."

"'Course." Naruto smirks, the only strain in his voice that from the fist pressed into his stomach. "Had to let you get warmed up first. Even an idiot knows a flame will go out if you blow on it too hard."

"Oh? Guess you haven't been _blowing_ very hard then."

"That was a terrible pun," he chuckles. "But you aren't wrong…"

He can feel her fevered breath, her heart pounding like a drum as the heat rolls off her body. There is a point they should have stopped, a point long passed, evident enough by the ruined state of the rooftop. He's drawing too much attention to himself. Showing too much of his hand. If this girl really is wolfie's sister, then combined with the knowledge that he knows Junior, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for her to connect the dots and figure out he is the Demon Fox.

"So don't hold back…"

Maybe it is the sleep deprivation. Maybe he really does want revenge for what she did to Junior's nightclub. Maybe it is because there is a small part of him still just a bit star stuck whenever a particular semblance or ninjutsu catches his eye, a lingering echo of the dead-last nobody who dared to dream of the stars, who could never do anything but get left behind. Maybe it is brain damage from the punch that had launched him up onto this roof.

"Come at me with everything you have!"

He wants to see it. Like a child, he wants to see it.

"Show me how bright you burn! Because if you don't-!"

His aura flares, erupting around him in a flurry of gold and flaming yellow. Golden fire surges through his body, leaking into the air around him, the first chain stretched to its very limit, the first gate starting to crack open. Anymore aura and he won't be able to keep from manifesting the first tail. There is a slight ache in his right eye, a stinging pain over the scar and under the seal he is using to suppress the wound.

It goes almost unnoticed beneath the heat and the flame and the juvenile excitement that splits his cheeks into a grin

Naruto pushes her back, overwhelming her strength easily with the force of the aura flooding his body. He spreads his arms, clenches his hands into fists and yells loud enough to be heard over the howling wind, over the roaring flames.

"- **I'm going to blow you away**!"

It doesn't even take a second for her to respond to his challenge.

A spark ignites. A wave of power washes over him. Flames erupt upwards in a pillar of light and force, her hair igniting into threads of fiery gold. She matches his grin, passion painting her gaze a fiery crimson as she looks upon him with unhinged euphoria in her eyes, like a fire about to burn out of control. The roof trembles beneath the full release of her semblance, the force of every blow he managed to land filling her body with unmatched strength.

"This is what you want, right whiskers?!" she shouts back at him. "Don't regret it! That's why you wanted this fight, right?! Well here it is! This is everything I've got!"

" **So, let's see you take it**!"

Flames flood the roof around them, from his aura, from her semblance, both clashing, crashing against each other in a torrent of flame and passion. To an onlooker, it is quite the spectacle. A brilliant inferno of blazing gold descending on the three-story building, a thankfully, empty dorm, as the two at the eye of the storm stare at each other with wide, inflamed grins.

Then, they move. And the roof explodes.

Rubble and dust and fire spill out onto the third floor, the heat scorching the hallway, the force of their punches shaking the building to its foundations. Naruto tries to anchor himself to the floor, only for a punch to send him crashing into and through a wall, two foot-sized patches torn right out of the walkway. Yang leaps through the hole in the wall, coming at him with another punch. He jumps upwards over it, spins and plants his feet into her face. A burst of wind makes a second hole in the wall, his stomp launching her right across the hall into another room.

He dashes forward, jumping into a flying kick. She catches his leg. Throws him into a wall, the impact cracking the drywall behind him. He rolls away as a punch obliterates the barrier between the room and the outside, flaming brick and shattered concrete falling onto the street below.

A hook comes, one probably with enough strength to send him flying out of the building. Naruto ducks under it, slamming his fists into her stomach and ribs. The floor trembles beneath them with each blow and he slips an arm around her back, throwing her into the second of the room's last two walls.

A burst of wind launches him forward. She brings her arms up. He smashes into her, the both of them flying across the building, ripping through the walls like they are made out of paper, tumbling in and out of the dorm rooms. They both roll back onto their feet and he lunges at her, his fist rocketing forward on a jet of wind.

She catches his punch. Her hair billows out behind her like a river of flame. She brings her fist down on the side of his head. His face hits the floor and goes through the floor, the rest of his body following him as he crashes onto the second floor of the building. Yang jumps down after him. Naruto rolls away as her fist smashes a crater into the walkway. He kicks her into the adjacent room and rolls onto his feet, jumping into the room after her.

The second floor meets the same fate as the third. They rip through the rooms, the reinforced walls falling, the windows shattering, and the doors torn from their hinges as the two dance a furious dance of wind and flame, punching and kicking, blocking and dodging, both matching the other's movements without a single care for the growing destruction around them.

Her fist buries into his solar plexus and he shoots downward like a missile, smashing through the second floor and into the first. Naruto jumps to his feet. Yang jumps down and rushes him. Her fists fly, smashing through his guard, crashing into his upper body. He throws out a punch and she ducks under it, laying into him with an almost desperate ferocity. A hook slams into his cheek. She grabs his arm and throws him into the floor hard enough for him to bounces back up to meet another flurry of punches.

Naruto manages to slip a punch through the furious onslaught, his fist meeting her face with a burst of wind. The storm of punches breaks. He jams a knee into her stomach. His fist meets her upper chest with a blast that shakes the whole building. A whirlwind of blows slams into her, each exploding with a burst of wind.

He throws a kick, only for her to slip past it with a hook that rattles his teeth. She grabs his shirt, shoves him back into a wall, charging at him with the same motion, a tackle sending them both through the reinforced drywall.

They tumble to the ground and she straddles him, pinning him down. Her fist crashes into his cheek. Once. Twice. Three times. There is a small crater under his head from the force of her blows. She draws her arm almost all the way back, winding up for a knockout.

And his arm snaps up, his fist catching her chin at just the right angle.

The impact echoes down the ruined hallway. Her entire head jerks like a bobble head doll, yellow flashing over her whole body and that yellow vanishing like snuffed out light.

The glow fades from her hair. Red fades back to a soft purple and fades further still. Her eyes go hazy, eyelids drooping. For a moment, she wobbles before her eyes roll up back into her head and she collapses onto him, Naruto sitting halfway up to catch her so as not to let her slam face-first into the floor.

Naruto shifts her so that her head rests on his shoulder, sitting all the way back up. Because of the difference in their height, there is little more he can do than to drape the taller girl over him like a big, blond blanket. Leaning back on one arm while the other holds the unconscious girl up, he takes a moment to let his body rest, his chest and stomach feeling like one big bruise at the moment.

While he is rather beat up, it's nothing he hasn't gone through before. If anything, this level of damage is negligible compared to what he usually goes through. His injuries will take care of themselves soon enough.

The building on the other hand…

"… Goodwitch is totally going to kill me."

Well, whatever. It's not like she hasn't already tried to before. Twice, in fact. At this point, he's sure his standing in the older huntress's eyes is already low enough that busting up a building or two is hardly going to make a difference.

Gathering the unconscious Yang into his arms, a somewhat awkward task due to her being slightly taller than him, Naruto stands and prepares to leave. A flutter of wings stops him, a small, black bird entering the building through one of the many holes he and his partner in crime(property damage) had put in the walls.

It lands before him and looks to the unconscious girl.

Naruto perks a brow.

"Buzz off you, she's not dead."

As if acknowledging the truth to his words, the bird gives a flap of its wings. Then, it proceeds to stare at him. Without a sound. Just staring, almost like a statue.

Naruto gives the weird bird one last look before he leaves.

Blood red eyes follow him all the way out the door.

* * *

 **AN: And we're back.**

 **A big thank you to everyone still reading this fic, both to those enjoying the direction it is going and to those still willing to give it a chance. I expected last chapter not to be very well received because of 'Naruto going to Beacon is super cliché'. Instead, this is now my most followed fic, beating out the trashy, first fic I wrote almost six years ago in only a third of the chapters. It's still on my profile, but I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. Please spare yourself. And me.**

 **This chapter is more or less my unedited stream of conscious since my beta is MIA currently. I apologize for the roughness because of it.**

 **-People's thoughts on Naruto's interactions with Weiss, Blake and Yang? Do they seem relatively in character?**

 **-Naruto and Yang's fight scene. The editor inside me said it was unnecessary fluff. The writer said 'well, I want to write it so too bad'. What are all of your thoughts on it?**

 **Edited on 9/3.**


	7. Chapter 7: Friend

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(II)

Chapter 7: Friend

* * *

Not far from the now defunct dormitory is a grassy field. Away from the building and streets and gray and whites of Beacon Academy is a hundred-meter track of grass, the occasional tree dotted here and there. A peaceful air hangs over the rectangular plains. It is probably a place for the students to come to relax and unwind, to get their minds away from the stress of school and have some alone time to meditate and collect themselves.

It is there Naruto Uzumaki finds himself, strewn out on the grass, watching the fluffy white clouds roll over the sky as he muses over the memories of his clones.

This morning, he created two clones for the purpose of reconnaissance, first instructing them to stay the hell away from Weiss, second telling them to keep an eye out for any red flags and third, tasking them with charting an escape route in the worst-case scenario. Standard procedure. Well, maybe not the first one, but the latter two are things he has his clones do for almost every job.

And right now, he is trying to decipher just what colored flag he has stumbled upon.

Wolfie. Weiss. The girl he just fought, who trashed Junior's club… and who is _apparently_ also wolfie's sister… or half-sister or cousin or something…

…

Anyway, point is, there are too many coincidences for his liking. And not just that the sum total of his interactions with the coming students of Beacon have been with girls. If experience has taught him anything, it's that these sorts of coincidences are never, _ever_ , a good sign.

Then, there's also…

His fingers press against the skin just under his right eye. Over the thin scar stretching over his eyelid and past the eyebrow. It aches with a dull throb, tracing a sharp pain under the patch of discolored skin. The seal he put over it appears to be doing its job well enough, but from what he can tell, the wound still hasn't healed.

There is something not just stopping his regeneration but actively trying to spread. Almost like a virus.

Fortunately, a combination of the seal he put over it and his regeneration seem to be beating whatever it is back.

' _In other words, it should go away as long as I don't push myself too hard,'_ he thinks, letting his arm fall to his side.

Idly, he wonders if he should be more concerned about the little, silver-eyed girl who cut out his eye. Not that he is concerned, or that he really cares that much at all, but there is a small part of him questioning if it really is okay to just dismiss something like this out of hand.

It is probably the part of him that has come to rely on his near instantaneous healing as a crutch, he concludes.

After all, any normal person would simply lose their eye if it was cut out. A normal person would die if stabbed in the heart or shot in the head. Normal people die when they're killed, unlike freaks of nature like him. So the girl can inflict injuries to him that have the same effects they would have on a normal person without a powerful, healing factor.

So what?

He isn't afraid of death. He hasn't been afraid of dying for years.

Still, it is annoying. Pain is still painful. Whatever the weird girl's power is, it apparently has the ability to cause him plenty of pain.

Thankfully, there is a simple solution. A solution to avoiding wolfie's strange powers, to keep her or Weiss or even Yang from figuring out who he is.

And that solution is to stay as far away from them as humanly possible. A solution he will get right around to implementing as soon as he returns wolfie's weapon to her.

Beacon is a pretty big school, after all. It shouldn't be too hard.

Right?

"Mng-?"

A sound comes from next to him, the sound of the previously passed out girl now regaining consciousness.

"Morning glass jaw."

"Jackass~," Yang hisses, bringing her arms up and stretching in a way that does amazing things to her chest. With a grunt, she relaxes into the grass, spreading her arms, a tired but satisfied smile on her lips. "How long was I out?"

"Like five minutes."

"Oh, nice. Still have a bit before the assembly."

Naruto blinks, squints, staring into her eyes. He isn't certain. It may be because he spent so long staring into those eyes while they were a furious crimson, but he swears the color of her iris is a few shades lighter than before. Closer to a blue-violet than the soft purple they were originally.

He perks a brow and puts a voice to his thoughts. "What's with your eyes?"

"Hm?" she lazily swings her head to the side to look at him.

"They're… They kind of look bluer than they were before."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Mmm~…" Yang makes a thinking face for a second before she shrugs. "Dunno. Never gone that wild with my semblance before, so maybe it's like a cooldown period or something?"

"Is that right?" Naruto says. He sits up and reaches behind her head.

There is a slight pinch. He holds up a single strand of golden blond hair, dangling it over her.

"Hey…" Yang sits halfway up. For a moment, that pale violet goes back to purple and then a slight red before it fades back. Exhaustion pervades her entire form, not just from the color of her eyes but also in the slight slouch of her posture as well as the weak half-glare she gives him, all sending the message she just doesn't have the energy to do better.

Then, the hair explodes into a tiny cloud of smoke. Naruto smirks, letting the blade of grass held between his fingers drop to the ground.

"Gotcha."

She lets out a small snort, smiling as she smooshes a hand against his cheek, as if to try and wipe the smirk off his face. Failing that, she lets herself fall back down onto the grass, making herself comfortable.

"So what now?"

"I was thinking of fixing you up and then going to the assembly thing."

"Couldn't have done that while I was passed out?"

"Healing you or going to the assembly?"

"Healing."

"Because I need to use a seal to do it and I don't really like the idea of putting a seal on someone without their permission. Even if my damn clones don't seem to think the same way…"

The last part he mutters to himself. Seriously. Aren't shadow clones supposed to be exact copies of him? Then again, that his apparent clones all seem to have their own, differing personalities probably says more about him than anything else…

"Seals?" Yang furrows her brow. "You mean like that stuff from those ero-books?"

"What- That's… it… I mean…ngh…"

Naruto can feel the heat gathering in his cheeks. He pinches his eyes shut, all too aware of the busty blond's gaze on him as he covers his face with a hand and resists the urge to summon his mask. It takes a moment for him to regain his bearings, in part because he actually knows exactly what she is talking about and because they _can_ be used that way and because _he_ knows how to use them that way and _damn it you shitty old toad, you and your crappy book series._

It's no wonder everyone thinks seals are either ninja voodoo or porn magic.

Finally, he gathers the courage to remove his palm from his face and look her in the eye. "Look, it's not like that okay?! Seals don't…! I mean, you can, but- look, that's not what they're _supposed_ to be used for okay?!"

"So it's _not_ going to make me super horny?" she asks with a leer and a wiggle of her brow.

Naruto returns a flat glare, one made all the less effective by the faint blush over his cheeks.

"Do you want me to heal you or not?"

"Come on whiskers, don't be such a stick in the mud!" she grins. "After all, you did bring me all the way over here so we could be _all alone, pounding_ me and _working my body_ until I just _exploded_."

"Yeah, and then you rolled over and passed out."

It is a small victory, but one he will take nevertheless. She shoots him a slight glare and turns away with a small pout.

"You just got lucky…"

"Whatever," Naruto rolls his eyes with a smirk. "So? You good if I put a seal on you?"

"Sure, sure."

Naruto takes a paintbrush and a bottle of ink from his jacket, positioning himself over her exposed stomach. Yang squirms only slightly, the ticklish feeling of the wet brush tempting her to giggle, something that would surely be painful for her as beaten and bruised as she is.

"Hey, thanks."

"Hm?" Naruto perks a brow, not looking away from his work on the seal over her stomach.

"For sticking around and doing this."

"Don't worry about it," he says in nonchalant tone, dipping the brush back in the ink. "There's probably going to be some sort of field test tomorrow, so I'd feel bad if you failed because you were too sore from getting your ass kicked."

"Who got their ass kicked? I got in way more shots than you did!"

"Sure, you did," Naruto smirks. He pokes the side of her stomach. "Now which one of us is flat on their back?"

She scoffs and winces. "This going to take very long?"

"The seal's easy enough. It's the part afterwards that's a bit more tricky."

"Tricky?"

"For me. You just have to tell me if you feel anything weird. The idea is basically that I'm using this seal and our auras to trick my healing factor into thinking your body is mine. It should be fine, but everyone's aura is different, so I don't know if yours will have some weird reaction to mine or something. If something's off, you'll notice before me."

"Mm." she gives a grunt of affirmation. "Mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What's a _cute, little, baby ninja_ like you doing around someone like Junior?"

"There's actually nothing about the first part of that sentence that doesn't piss me off," Naruto notes with an irritable expression. "First, not cute. Second, just because I'm not huge and full of big, hard muscles like you doesn't mean I'm little."

"Excuse me? I am _not_ full of muscles."

"Third, I'm fifteen," he says with a smirk at her offended look. "And fourth, I'm not a ninja. Trained by ninjas. Probably better at ninja'ing than most ninjas. But no, I am not officially a ninja."

"So, how'd you end up here? You said you didn't just come here for me, right?"

Naruto takes a moment. Quirks a brow as he comes up with the appropriate response.

"I beat up a teacher."

"Really?"

"Yup. Apparently, Ozpin was so impressed he invited me to come to his school."

Sure there are some… minor details… missing, but that is pretty much what got him into Beacon, isn't it? It definitely wasn't because of his 'good heart' or any sentimental crap like that. He's sure that whole spiel Ozpin gave about him showing 'mercy' to wolfie and the witch is just lip service.

"Hm." Yang purses her lips, rolls the bit of information around in her head. For a moment, she says nothing. Then, she gives him a smile. "So this is like your big break, huh?"

"… Something like that." Naruto says with an unreadable expression. He finishes the seal with one last stroke, putting away the brush and ink bottle. "There, that should do it."

It is a double-layered spiral, painted in ink over her belly button. To a seal master's eye, it is a conversation matrix layered cleverly within a filtrate class and a double-reverse feedback method with an internal array suited primarily for ease of access. To the untrained eye, it is a seemingly indecipherable mess of scribbles in the vague shape of a swirl, the shapely and toned stomach beneath far more worthy of note.

"Alright," Naruto holds his right hand over the seal, his left hand clasped around his wrist. "Tell me if anything feels painful or off, okay?"

"Got it."

Aura flows from the pit of his stomach, creeping up his shoulder and over his arm. It pools into his hand. He coaxes it into the outside, a swirl of ink on his palm acting as a bridge.

It is as if there is gasoline mixed into the ink. The swirl on his hand and the swirl on her stomach both ignite into brilliant gold, a heatless flame catching over the ink.

Naruto frowns. Furrows his brow in concentration. A chill washes over him, the contrast between the warmth pulsing through his hand and the cold filling the rest of his body causing a needling sensation to creep up his arm. The ache in his right eye becomes a slight pinch. He squeezes the eye shut. The pinch then becomes a stab and a warm wetness begins to bubble up beneath his eyelid.

' _I figured that'd be the case…'_

Still, he doesn't break his technique. Holding his hand over her stomach, he continues to channel aura into the seal. Soon enough, the flame fades and the seal vanishes into her skin. Naruto lets out a sigh. His aura retreats. He pulls his hand back, clenching and unclenching it into a fist to get some of the feeling back in it.

"You done?" Yang asks, propping herself up on her elbows.

"Yeah, that should be good."

"Whoo-!"

Yang smiles, all but bouncing to her feet as her eyes return to their regular shade of soft purple. She looks to her hands, flexes and touches her muscles, feeling none of the soreness or exhaustion from when she first woke up. Her hand comes to rest on her stomach, a soothing warmth radiating from under her palm.

"Wow, this thing works fast…" With a teasing smirk, she turns back to Naruto. "Hey, I thought you said this thing wasn't supposed to make me su-"

The words die on her lips when she sees the trail of red leaking out from his right eye.

"Oh my god," Yang rushes to crouch down next to him. "What's wrong? Did I hit you too hard? Is your eye okay?"

" _I_ am fine." Naruto grins, sounding not at all concerned by the blood dripping from his right eye. " _See_ what I did there?"

With the slightest smile, she gives him a flat stare and perks a brow. "Really?"

"What? Not a fan?"

"I'd say your puns leave a lot to be des _i_ red."

"Oof. Think that one hurt more than the punches."

"Not the best _punchline_ , eh? But hey. Seriously. Your eye okay?"

"It's fine," Naruto waves away her concern, wiping the blood off on his sleeve. "I don't have anywhere near the control needed to use actual healing techniques, so I just use seals and my own healing factor to compensate."

He puts a hand over his eye, making sure to completely cover the scar. An array of ink and symbols appears over his face, centered over his right eye.

"Let's see… I'll just sack functionality to increase the power to the containment and suppression nodes."

The array of seals shifts and morphs, the ink crawling seamlessly over his skin. Soon enough, the symbols settle and fade back into his skin. Naruto removes his hand. Blinks his right eye. The blood is gone and the scar is still there, but now a milky sheen covers the iris.

"Yeah, so basically I just trick my healing factor into thinking someone else's body is part of mine and piggyback off of that," he continues his explanation. "But, the problem is I have to shut down my own healing factor or else it'll think their body _is_ mine and will try to heal it like it's mine. And that can get kind of messy."

"What, so I'd grow a dick or something?"

Naruto closes his right eye and gives her a one-eyed deadpan. "That, or it'd trigger an auto-immune response where your body treats the newly healed parts like a foreign entity and attacks them."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty bad…" Yang mumbles with a worried look, poking her stomach. "So, did everything…"

"You're fine." Naruto dismisses her worry with a casual shrug. "That's what the seals are for. They're basically twenty-something layers of safeguards to shut everything down if it starts to go wrong. Besides…"

He makes a troubled expression. Looks away. Yang gives him a questioning look.

"What is it?"

A cough. "It… seems like since your semblance is based around transforming energy, it's fairly easy for your aura to absorb mine and distil what's needed from it to use as its own. My elemental affinity is wind and my aura is a bit… different than most people's. I'd be willing to bet your affinity is fire and, given the typical interaction between those two elements when used in conjunction, it is likely that it augmented the natural inclination of your aura due to your semblance."

"So, what you're saying is that I'm _reeeally_ good at taking you in."

"And that's _exactly_ what I was trying to avoid saying."

"Oh, I know," she grins.

"Right." A sigh. "Now hey, serious talk for a second."

His voice drops a pitch. His gaze sharpens. It is a near imperceptible change, but one enough to make Yang all too aware of how the boy in front of her took her at her best and still had the aura to spare to heal her afterwards.

"I'm not here to rip off your head or anything but trashing the bar of an information broker really is the best way to paint a target on your back. Junior's a shit but he's not a petty shit so he probably won't hold a grudge. You got lucky on that front. But if you had done this in say, Mistral or pretty much anywhere in the Elemental Nations, you'd have bounty hunters and _ni-njas_ breathing down your neck for the rest of what'd probably be a pretty short life."

Naruto squeezes his eyes shut. Tries to ignore the heat gathering in his cheeks, hoping against hope that the older girl hadn't noticed the slight crack in his voice. He cracks open an eye, only to come face to face with a merciless grin and a wordless promise of endless teasing to come.

"I'll try not to make it a habit." Yang manages to squeeze out, doing her best to keep a straight face.

"G-good," Naruto grunts, squeezing his eyes shut, rising to his feet. "Anyway! I'm going to go to the assembly! You can rest here or go or do whatever you want, as long as you know not to pull that crap again!"

"Nah, I'm good, I'll go with you." Yang stands, all smiles as she slaps a hand against his back. "So, what'd you think?"

"About what?"

"My semblance, stupid. Isn't that what this whole thing was about?"

"You did beat up some of my frie-," no, that is not the right word. "Acqua-," not that either. "You beat up the people who are sometimes marginally useful to me."

"Your… friends?"

"Acquaintances."

"Friends?"

"Associates."

"Friends."

With an annoyed grunt, Naruto shoves his hands into his pockets and turns around. He begins to walk away, only for an arm to sling around his neck and yank him off his feet.

"Aw~!" Yang gushes, trapping the younger boy in a one-sided hug. "I'm sorry I beat up your _friends~_! I mean, I'm still going to get you back for that nipple twist, but no wonder you were so angry!"

"Who'd be friends with those losers?! I-I just wanted to see your semblance! This has nothing to do with them, I don't care, I don't! Get- get off!"

He pauses in his struggling to give her a questioning look. "And what do you mean 'get me back'? You already punched me in the face. Repeatedly."

"And you punched me in the face, repeatedly! Come on, it'll just be a light tap."

"… if I say no, you're just going to randomly punch me in the balls, aren't you?"

Yang gives him a wide smile.

"Ugh… fine. Can you at least wait until we get to the auditorium? That way I'll have an excuse for not being awake during that stupid assembly."

"Alright."

As if to make sure he won't run away, Yang tucks Naruto under her arm and begins to make her way back to the courtyard, carrying him like a sack of potatoes towards the main building and his final destination.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, how come it never really felt like I was hitting aura whenever I punched you?" she asks. "You took it like it was nothing so I didn't really think much about it, but what's up with that?"

"That's cause I use reinforcement."

"Rein-what? Is that like the tree-walking thing?"

"Not really… I'd say the whole thing with tree walking is closer to how you guys use the recoil from your guns to move around. As for reinforcement…"

Naruto squints his eyes in thought. Taps his chin. He takes a moment to collect his thoughts, to figure out how to explain it in a way even someone like him can understand.

"Let me put it this way," he begins, raising one finger. "The way you guys use aura in the Kingdoms is called shielding. It's not a very intuitive name, honestly I think it'd be better if they called it 'armor', but that's beside the point. The idea is that you form a 'shell' around your body that acts as a shield against attacks. Which, I'm guessing is where they got that name from."

"Reinforcement could be considered the opposite. Rather than defending with a layer of aura outside of your body, reinforcement is channeling aura through your body, packing your muscle fibers and bones and cells with aura. In addition to increasing your durability, it also gives a boost to your speed and strength."

"Huh. That sounds pretty useful. How come they don't teach that in the Kingdoms?" Yang asks.

"A couple reasons. One is that reinforcement has a much higher learning curve," Naruto explains. "Shielding is simpler to use. People reflexively tense up when they are about to be hit. Building off of that instinct isn't very hard and forming the 'shell' takes some getting used to but is relatively easy. On the other hand, with reinforcement, it's not as simple as just shoving as much aura into your body as you can. You need to have at least a basic understanding of muscle, bone and tendon structures because if you don't, you're likely to injure yourself by reinforcing the wrong parts too much or too little."

"What about when your aura breaks?" Yang asks. "Or does that not happen with reinforcement?"

"You're right, it doesn't. Reinforcement splits the strain between the body and aura where shielding puts the burden almost entirely on one's aura. By the time your aura breaks, if you're using reinforcement, you're probably already dead."

"And that's another reason," Naruto continues. "If your arm gets chomped by a grimm and you're using shielding, your aura may break and you might end up with a bruise but that'd be it. If you're using reinforcement, on the other hand, you're probably losing the arm. To put it simply, while reinforcement and its external counterpart, enhancement, have more offensive capabilities, they don't offer anywhere near the defense of shielding. It's the reason why ninjas have upwards of four to five times the rate of deaths and career ending injuries than huntsman do."

Her eyebrows shoot up. "Four to five? Damn… no wonder…"

"Hm?"

"Ah, it's just… all my dad's old, ninja pals are dead," Yang says in a sad tone. "Well, except for one, but… they don't really talk anymore. He puts flowers out for them every year."

"Flowers, huh…" Naruto mutters under his breath. He lets his gaze fall, for a moment pondering over his own words, over the statistic he had remembered for whatever reason. The man who told it to him looked very much like he does now. White hair. Scar over the one eye. There is a part of him that cannot help but find the similarities amusing.

And in his mind, he counts.

…

' _Yeah… five is about right, isn't it?'_

"Hey, so uh… you think it'd be worth it for me to learn that reinforcement stuff?"

A voice pulls him from his thoughts. Naruto looks up at the speaker.

"Eh… I'm not sure," he admits. "I'd need to know the details of your semblance to be sure."

"Oh yeah, so what'd you think?" Yang asks with a smile. "Of my semblance, I mean. My dad says it's just like a giant, temper tantrum, but I don't think it's that bad."

"A temper tantrum?" Naruto blanches. "No way, your semblance is awesome! It's insane how much stronger you got while we were fighting! And the way your hair glows like that… it's amazing. No wonder you got so angry when I pulled out one of your hairs. I've seen a lot of fire based semblances, but they're all so dark and destructive… yours… it's one of the most beautiful one's I've ever seen."

"That's, uh… wow. So you've really got a thing for semblances?"

"Eh, yeah," he says with a sheepish chuckle. "I mean, isn't it just so cool, having some power based on part of your personality? Something unique and special to you? It's just… I don't know. I've always loved seeing new semblances. Ever since I was a kid."

"Huh, déjà vu…"

"What?"

"Oh, uh, it's nothing. I mean, you do the whole 'catching on fire and powering up' thing too, right? So it's not like my semblance is really all that special or anything…"

"Sure it is! Call it splitting hairs or whatever, but my strength is just… whenever I finally run up against something stronger than me, there's nothing I can do. But you, it's like as long as you can keep fighting, you'll just keep getting stronger. Who cares if getting angry is what it takes? So what? Get angry! Get mad! Anger that's… something you can control. In the end, that strength is all yours… it all comes from you. The power to turn your pain into strength, that's… it's got to be one of the best semblances ever."

"You really think so?" Yang says, somewhat embarrassed by the younger boy's glowing praise. "Well what about you? I bet your semblance is really something too, right?"

"My semblance…" Naruto plasters on a smile, does his best to not let his inner thoughts show on his face. The urge to summon his mask returns, this time for an entirely different reason, and all he can do is scratch at his cheek to resist.

"The only thing my semblance can do is hurt the people around me."

Silence follows his admission. The reason why is obvious enough. Him, who apparently has a semblance that negatively effectives those around him. Her, in close enough proximity to be considered 'around' him. Naruto glances away, mentally berating himself for the slip up.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about anything." he is quick to reassure her. "I usually have my aura sealed off and that suppresses my semblance. So that… that…"

Naruto trails off as he feels a sensation on his cheek. The very same that woke him up from his nap earlier. And in a flat voice, he responds the very same way he did before.

"What are you doing?"

"Aw, you don't purr?" the grin is audible in her voice. With the arm not holding him up, Yang strokes the whisker marks on his cheeks.

' _And this is why I wear that damned mask,'_ Naruto thinks with a twitchy expression. _'No wonder that girl with the cat ears wanted to hide them under that ribbon… I should probably apologize to her if I run into her again.'_

"No," he answers in the driest tone he can muster. "No, I do not. You know I'm not a faunus, right?"

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Hm," the hand stops stroking his cheek. Yang smiles at him, flipping her hair back. "Well, semblance or no semblance, you're still crazy strong. It's no wonder you got into Beacon so early! What about a weapon? You use any weapons?"

"Sort of? I can't really turn them into a gun, but I got these I guess."

He holds up an arm and summons his chains. Yang looks the aura constructs over. Perks a brow. Her smile widens as she regards the chains with interest.

"Oooh, kinky."

"Is this going to be a regular thing with you?"

"Are you going to stop calling me big and full of muscles?"

"Nope."

"Well there you go."

"What do you want me to call you then? Boob-zilla?"

"You could always just go with 'Yang', but 'big sis' works too."

"Boobs it is."

"Big sis!"

"No."

"I'd also accept 'Onee-chan'."

"Not even if you paid me."

As if just remembering something, Naruto tilts his head up. He flicks his wrist and the chains shatter into motes of light, the light coming back together into the shape of a three-pronged knife. "Oh yeah, I can also do kunai."

"Psh, that's not a weapon," Yang rolls her eyes in an exaggerated manner. "Your glowing, kitchen knives might be considered weapons in the Elemental Nations. But here? In the Kingdoms? We don't consider it a _real_ weapon unless it can 'at least' transform into a gun."

Without looking away, Naruto twirls the knife in his hand, its form bursting into golden flames and those flames forming into a simple pistol. He raises the small handgun, one of his still-blond eyebrows rising as well.

"That's more like it! How's that work anyway? Can you just make any weapon you want?"

"Pretty much," he says, letting his arm fall and dispelling the glowing gun back into aura. "I just usually don't do anything other than knives and chains because it's not really worth the effort."

"Mmm… what about a scythe?"

"You mean like this?"

Naruto raises his hand, gold and shadow shaping into the form of a giant, flaming scythe, one easily taller than him.

For a moment, Yang regards the aura construct.

"Sooo~, yeah! I've got a little sister, cute as a button, bit of a nerd, kind of got a thing for weapons. You two should talk! She's going to be attending Beacon this year too. I bet the two of you would make great friends."

The scythe shatters back into light and nothingness. "Well, that depends. How little are we talking here?"

"Fifteen."

' _Lies.'_ "Oh, I meant her boobs."

"Careful, whiskers," Yang smirks.

"We're here."

"Urk-"

Indeed, the doors to Beacon's main hall looms before them, a steady stream of students walking past them, making their way into the building. It is royal and regal, the whole of the prestigious huntsman academy stretching out before them. Past the front venue are towers, spired buildings connected by arches surrounding a central high-rise, lights and revolving gears visible past the glass walls of the headmaster's office.

The shining Beacon. All in all, it reminds him of a castle.

Or at least some sort of prison.

"So, whiskers," Yang lets him down, stepping in front of him, cracking her knuckles. "Any last words?"

"Uh… have mercy?"

"Nope."

* * *

 **AN: New chapter. It's a bit shorter than I'd like, but it was either 5k words or 10k and as I said, I didn't have as much time to write this week. Editor side is saying there isn't enough progress, but I'd rather make the story more coherent as a whole instead of focus on weekly turnouts.**

 **Things to address about the last chapter. Do know that I read all reviews and I have seen the complaints about certain parts. For one, hopefully the character's reaction should make more sense in a chapter or two. For the other…**

 **Rather than ask questions about the chapter, I'll ask people to spare a second or two to vote on the poll I have on my profile.**

 **Edited 9/3.**


	8. Chapter 8: mask

"Um… Yang?"

"What's up, little sister?"

With worry, Ruby Rose looks to the unconscious body tucked under her older sister's arm as the rest of the first years finish filtering into the main hall. Only the occasional odd glance is shot in their direction, something she finds almost as worrying as the thought that her dear sister may have very well punched someone out on their first day at Beacon.

"Who… is that?" she points at the unmoving head of white hair.

"Oh, I made a new friend!"

Ruby looks from the smiling Yang, her clothes somewhat dirtied but the blond brawler herself apparently unharmed, to the limp body under her arm.

"By 'made', you mean it was mutual, right?" she asks with a concerned expression. "You didn't just beat up some guy and kidnap him?"

"Whaaat, me?! Of course not! Me and whiskers are great friends! Ain't that right, whiskers?"

"Damn… tit monster…"

A weak whimper comes from the mess of white hair.

"Tit monster…?" she mutters. Ruby tilts her head, an inexplicable sense of familiarity striking her at the sound of the strained voice.

Almost like she has heard it somewhere before.

"See? Great friends!" Yang chirps. "So, how's your day been?"

"You mean since you ditched me?!" Ruby huffs, for a moment putting aside the strange feeling to air her grievances at her older sister. "Yeah! While you were out 'befriending' this guy, I was busy _exploding_!"

"Yikes. Meltdown already?"

"No! I mean I _literally_ blew a hole in front of the building! There was fire… and I think some ice?"

Yang gives her a knowing smile. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"Somehow…" a groan. "Somehow I doubt it."

The voice comes from under Yang's arm. Her sister's now-awake captive lifts his head to reveal a single blue eye and three whisker marks across both his cheeks. His gaze flicks around the room, lingering on Ruby for only a moment before he turns to shoot an annoyed look at his captor.

"Wow, quick turnaround." Yang whistles with a raised brow. "Figured you'd be out for at least a half hour or so."

"Yeah, me too." He grumbles.

Who is this guy? How does he know her sister? Why does he sound more annoyed at having regained conscious so quickly rather than being knocked unconscious in the first place? Questions stream through Ruby's mind, yet more than any of the others, one in particular floats to the forefront of her mind.

She crouches, puts her hands on her knees as she leans in to get a better look at his face, at those strange markings on his cheeks.

They aren't real whiskers. If anything, they look more like tattoos. And while her first instinct is to call them cat whiskers, for whatever reason, the animal that comes to mind is-

"You… have fox whiskers."

Unbidden, her thoughts slip from her lips. The fox(?) faunus turns to her, giving her a questioning look. "… Ha?"

"Ah, no I didn't mean anything by that!" Ruby steps back, distancing herself with a truly impressive speed and _oh god why did she just do that_. "I-It's just that we don't really see too many faunus in Patch and the ones we do see have some kind of animal parts and when I saw your whiskers, I thought they didn't really look like whisker-whiskers but kind of like those kitty-face whiskers, s-so I wanted to get a closer look, a-and, um…"

It really is impressive how flexible she is, to be able to put her foot in her mouth like that.

"Y-yeah, they kind of look more like fox whiskers instead of kitty whiskers, you know cause kitty whiskers are cute but yours make you look kind of tricky and fox-like-" _STOP! STOOOOP!_ "-B-but that's not really a bad thing! I mean, they're still kind of cute and I'm not really a 'cat person' or a 'dog person' and we even have a dog at home! Yeah, his name is Zwei! And dogs and foxes are supposed to be in the same family of animals, I-I think, s-so I, um…"

At last, silence. Her voice trails off. The heat in her cheeks finally manages to overload her brain, turning her complexion the very same shade as her hood and bringing the stream of thoughts spilling out of her mouth to a merciful end. She looks to her sister with a desperate plea for aid in her eyes.

Yang mouths the word 'name'. Despite her embarrassment, Ruby manages to sneak a peek at the white-haired faunus, only to find him looking back at her with a strange expression. Curiosity? Bafflement? She isn't exactly sure what to call it, but it is clear enough she _definitely_ isn't what he expected her to be.

"H-hey, so I'm Ruby…" she manages to get out before her lips clamp shut and her gaze drops to her feet.

This day sucks.

First Yang ditched her. Then she got yelled at. Then she exploded. Then she got yelled at some more. And now she's just word vomited all over her sister's new friend. Sure, she met Jaune and he seems kind of nice but he's not here and neither is Crescent Rose and she's pretty sure she's about to get yelled at again. That's probably why he seems familiar. Because the scar and the hair and eye color all remind her of a certain heiress and all that's missing is the angry yelling, something that's probably right now about to change.

"I… don't know how to respond to that so I'm not going to," he says in an understandably troubled tone. "Anyway, I'm Naruto. By the way, I'm not a faunus."

"O-oh." It's okay. That's not so bad! He doesn't seem angry or offended, so don't say anything stupid. Just apologize like a normal person. "I'm, uh, not a faunus either!"

' _Whyyy…'_

A blink. "Right. So… boobs here tells me you're the same age as me?"

"Really?" Ruby perks up, choosing to focus on this particular piece of information instead of how she has most likely forever labeled herself as 'the friend's really weird, younger sister'. "Uh, how old are you?"

"Fifteen, sixteen in October."

"Ah, me too!"

He gives her a small smile, laced with amusement. "October 10th."

"I'm October 31st! Heh, same day as Halloween!"

"Looks like you're still the youngest one here, then. Think you're up for it, being here at Beacon a whole, two years early?"

"Aha…" Ruby lets out a weak chuckle. Scratches her head. "Maybe. It… hasn't been the best, first day of school ever."

"Well, you seem to still be own your own two feet, so you've got me beat," he reassures her, still being held under her older sister's arm. "I'm sure you'll be fine. But, eh, you might want to work on those first impressions."

"Yeah…" Ruby admits, a blush of embarrassment returning to her cheeks.

"Like you can talk," Yang helpfully interjects. She pokes his cheek. "How come she gets a happy 'hi, nice to meet you' while I got the super-purple-nurple?"

"That's 'cause she's nice and cute while you're mean and full of rock hard muscles," Naruto declares with a flat expression.

Yang drops him. He hits the floor with a dull 'thud'.

"Ow…"

"How's the floor for ya?" Yang grins, nudging him with her foot. "Still think my muscles are 'rock hard'?"

"Yes."

A chuckle escapes her at her sister's fake pout. Ruby smiles, her fears and anxiety beginning to melt away as Naruto rolls onto his back with a groan.

Then, it comes from behind her. A familiar voice at a very familiar volume.

" _You!"_

"EEP!"

She all but jumps into her sister's arms as the exploding heiress makes her presence known, bringing back with her all of the memories of fire and ice and yelling. Lots and lots of yelling. Hands on her hips and brow creased in annoyance, Weiss Schnee pins Ruby with an angry sneer.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

Yang gives her sister a bewildered look. "Oh my god, you actually exploded."

"It was an accident!" Ruby swears as Yang lets her down. "It was an accident!"

"What's this?"

Dust for dummies… and other inadequate individuals?

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product-," Weiss begins to recite, her voice becoming higher, faster, squeakier as she goes until the words all but fuse together.

"Although notmandatory,theSchneeFamily highlyencouragestheircustomerstoreadandfamiliarizethemselveswiththiseasy-to-followguidetoDustapplicationandpracticeinthefield."

"Uhhh…"

"You really want to start making things up to me?" Weiss asks with a glare.

Ruby looks to the pamphlet. "Absolutely…"

She was (kind of) able to recover and patch things up with Naruto. Maybe she and Weiss can do the same?

Alas, those budding hopes are dashed as the heiress shoves the pamphlet into her hands and crosses her arms with a scowl.

"Read this and don't ever speak to me again."

So much for that.

"Ahem-."

The sound of someone clearing their throat comes from below them. Weiss looks down. Naruto gives her a wave.

"Yo."

" _ **YOU.**_ "

"Me," Naruto replies, brushing off the heiress's anger as easily as he brushed off Ruby's own disastrous first introduction.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"Um… laying on the floor?"

"I can see that! _Why_?!"

"I'm recovering from being viciously assaulted for reasons that are totally not my fault."

"Keep telling yourself that, whiskers."

Weiss looks from Naruto to Yang and back to Naruto, her lips wrinkling into a sneer.

"Ugh, would you stand up?!" she grabs his collar, yanking him to his feet. "Do you even know where this is? This is _Beacon Academy_ , the preeminent school for training huntsmen and huntresses in the Kingdoms, led by the illustrious Professor Ozpin himself! This is a prestigious establishment for higher learning and the betterment of humanity, _not_ somewhere for you to just sleep and lay around! Are you even listening to me? What do you have to say for yourself?!"

A lazy blink. Naruto gives the heiress a flat stare, his posture slouched as though he can't be bothered to put more than the minimum effort into standing. His gaze shifts from her left eye to her right, to the scar nearly a mirror of his own and back, settling on her unscarred eye for whatever reason.

"Geez e.p.f., what's got your panties in a twist," he asks, digging a finger into his ear. "You know all that stress isn't good for you, right? No wonder your hair's already gone white."

"My natural color _is_ white, you ignoramus!"

Naruto leans towards Ruby. "What's ignoramus mean?"

"I, uh, think she just called you… stupid." Ruby gives him a confused look. "But what's, um, e.p.f mean?"

"It stands for exploding panty flasher."

"Exploding?" Yang says with a snicker.

"Panty?" Ruby tilts her head in confusion.

" _Flasher?!_ " Weiss all but shrieks, her eyes bloodshot with rage, her hands clenching as though wrapping around something. Like someone's neck. "Wha-?! The nerve-! How _dare_ you!"

"You did sort of flash me everything earlier," Naruto shrugs. Then, he scratches his cheek and gives her a sort of pitying gaze, his eye dropping to her chest.

"Ah, though I guess everything for you isn't all that much, is it?"

There is a moment of silence. Ruby stares in stunned shock.

"Wow whiskers, you do not have a filter, do you?" Yang says with a wide eyes.

"What?" Naruto looks to her and perks a brow. "Did I say something wrong?"

The genuine cluelessness seems only to further enrage her. With a great and mighty breath, her lips part and Weiss prepares to lay into the whiskered boy.

"Why you _mangy, little-_!"

" **Ahem."**

Then, the speakers blare to life, feedback from the microphone drawing their attention to the front of the hall. Standing at the podium and looking half asleep, Professor Ozpin clears his throat, looking over the gathered students, his gaze pausing for the slightest of moments when it passes over them.

" **I'll… keep this brief."**

Weiss shoots Naruto a dirty look, whatever she was about to say dying on her tongue. With one last glare, she turns her gaze forward. Naruto's eye lingers on the heiress for only a moment, again lingering on the scar over her left eye, before he turns his gaze to the podium as well.

" **You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."**

It is only for an instant. A subtle shift Ruby would not have caught if she hadn't been looking at him at the exact time it happened.

For a single moment, something dark and ugly twists his lips into a humorless smile.

His left eye flashes a bloody crimson.

And then it's gone, his face returning to a bored, placid expression.

" **But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose. Direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."**

… Huh? Is that it?

Naruto scoffs. Yang flips her hair. Ruby and Weiss share a glance in their confusion.

Professor Ozpin hobbles away on his cane. Next, Professor Goodwitch steps up to the microphone.

" **You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."**

"He seemed kind of… off," Yang notes as the rest of the crowd begins to leave.

Ruby nods in agreement. "It's almost like he wasn't even there… Naruto?"

"Mmm?"

It's as though what she saw never happened. The lazy, half-asleep look is back in place, his expression still relaxed, still warm, but with a certain tenseness about it.

Almost like a mask.

"Um…" Ruby fumbles for something else to say. "So, uh, what kind of weapon do you use?"

He perks up. "Oh yeah, that reminds me."

"Here," he digs a hand into his jacket. "Ozpin wanted me to give this back to you."

A small pop. Somehow, someway, the white-haired boy manages to pull something roughly the size of a suitcase from his jacket. It is a strange and inexplicable violation of the laws of physics, something Ruby might have thought to comment on, were the entirety of her attention not taken up by just what it is he retrieved from the hammer space of his jacket.

"Crescent Rose!"

Who, what, where, when, how, why, none of it matters to her as far as that her beloved has been returned to her. With a flurry of her semblance for good measure, Ruby rushes to embrace her sweetheart, intentionally or unintentionally pulling Naruto into a glomp.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank youuu~!"

It's as though this singular moment has made everything she's had to deal with today worth it. As though all is right in the world and everything's going to be okay and real life really does have happy endings. It is a rush of pure joy and childish happiness. Like her birthday and every holiday in Remnant all at the same time, as though the final piece of her happily-ever-after has just fallen into place, because right here, right now, embracing her precious Crescent Rose at the school of her dreams, Ruby Rose is in her own heaven and not even the memories of that disastrous night and the masked jerk who stole away her beloved weapon can bring her down.

"Why do you people keep hugging me?"

The realization she has just wrapped herself around a boy she just met on the other hand-

"Ah-!"

Her face goes beet red. She separates from him in a gust of rose petals, grabbing the compact scythe and hiding behind Yang.

"Heh, sorry…" Ruby apologizes with a sheepish chuckle, hugging Crescent Rose to her chest. She turns to the spot next to her, only to find it empty with its previous occupant already making her way to the door.

"Hey, Weiss!"

Still riding the high of having her Crescent Rose returned to her, Ruby rushes to the still-angry Schnee's side in a flurry of rose petals, appearing in front of her and putting on an apologetic expression.

"What do you want?" Weiss sneers.

"Look, I- um…" Ruby shrinks only slightly under the glare. Even so, she digs in her metaphorical heels and looks the angry girl straight in the eyes. "I just wanted to say I'm really, really sorry about earlier."

Weiss holds her glare for another moment. Then, she sighs.

"Well, at least that's one of you," she grumbles with an annoyed glance back.

' _Success!'_ Ruby cheers in her mind. The grouchy heiress may not have accepted the apology but at least she didn't reject it either.

"One of us what?" Naruto asks as he makes his way over with a visible limp, Yang following just behind him.

"Has some semblance of manners!" Weiss snaps at him.

"Sheesh, e.p.f., you ever hear of something called an 'inside voice'?" he rubs his ear with a wince. "You know, you've got some pretty big lungs for someone so small."

"Do _not_ call me that!"

"E.p.f.? Or small?"

" _Both!_ "

"Hai, hai~, whatever you say, scar-face."

"Not that either!"

"Frills?"

"No!"

"Washboard?"

" _Ab-so-lute-ly NOT!"_

Ruby glances between the two with worry. While it's great Weiss no longer seems to be angry at her, what's not great is that instead of being gone, the anger appears to have just switched targets, Naruto's own flippant attitude not helping in the slightest. She actually looks maybe one or two stupid nicknames away from physically assaulting him.

"Hm…" Naruto rubs a hand against his cheek, his expression squinted in a lazy manner. "How about-"

Weiss grabs his collar, yanking him close enough to stare him straight in his only opened eye.

"My name," she seethes, her eyes chilling pits of barely suppressed rage. "Is Weiss Schnee! Weiss! Schnee! Not e.p.f., not scar-face, not frills and _not washboard_! I am the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and I will not be belittled in such a manner!"

"Weiss Schnee," she hisses, her voice trembling. "Say my name. _Say. It._ "

"Waissu Sneeze."

"H-hey, you guys don't need to fight, right? I'm sure we-ah!"

It is important to note three things result in the following sequence of events.

While Weiss Schnee is a perfectly capable, young huntress-in-training, her choice of footwear does not offer her the greatest of support. It is true, that with grace and elegance, the Schnee heiress has mastered the art of fighting in heels, but only while needing to balance her own weight. Thus, with the added weight of another person, that balance has been broken, exposing her to the disadvantages of her footwear.

And while Naruto Uzumaki is more powerful than any young boy his age has any right to be, he is still a boy, and thus, male. Therefore, he too possesses the inherent weakness common to his gender. The likes of blades and bullets are but nuisances to him, yet even so, a straight punch to the balls backed by the superhuman strength of one Yang Xaio Long is something even he has trouble shaking off. Thus, having recently taken one such punch, he is still beset by a sense of nausea and weakness in the legs.

And while Ruby Rose is as sweet and innocent as a young girl her age can be, she is prone to rare but often disastrous moments of stupidity.

Thus, the following sequence of events.

Ruby grabs at Naruto's shoulders, trying to separate the two white-haired teens. The sudden motion causes Naruto to tip back, his weight pushing against Ruby.

Having expected more resistance, Ruby begins to tip over, but is able to catch herself, pushing back against Naruto, pushing his weight back onto Weiss.

The sudden release and addition of the taller Naruto's weight, in addition to Ruby's push, causes Weiss to lose her balance, Weiss unintentionally pulling on Naruto's collar to try to stop her fall. The weakness in his legs causes him to go down with her. He only manages to move one of his arms into position, their faces smashing together as they both go down.

Ruby stares in horror.

Did… did she just…

"Ohhh…" Ruby whimpers. She can already hear the yelling.

"Whelp, that's one way to stop them from fighting!" Yang says with a grin, putting an arm around her little sister. "But, you know, I'm not sure if getting them to 'kiss and make up' was really the best way to go about it."

Then, she tilts her head. "Ah, never mind. Looks like whisker's got 'em covered."

"Mmm mmm mm mm, mmm mmm mmm! _"_

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting off, calm your tits."

" _Mmm! Mmm mmm-!_ "

"Oh, wait, you don't have any. My bad."

" **MMMMMMM!** "

Naruto rolls off Weiss, removing his hand from over her mouth. She scrambles to her feet, wiping her lips off on her sleeve.

"Ugh, I cannot believe you put your filthy fingers on my lips!"

"Better than the alternative," Naruto grimaces, shaking his hand. "Geez, your lips are as cold as your hands."

"They are not!"

"They're like ice packs."

"Ugh! I cannot believe you! You should be thanking me for waking you up earlier!"

"I'd be more thankful if you didn't do it by putting those little ice packs of yours on my face."

Ruby blinks.

A faint blush makes its way over her cheeks and Weiss crosses her arms, turning away. "I w-will admit that it was improper of me, but you shouldn't have been asleep there in the first place!"

"Doesn't make what you did any less perverted."

"Perverted?!"

"Hey, so for the rest of us in the crowd wondering," Yang cuts in, raising a hand. "Does that mean you two kissed already or is this all just a big misunderstanding?"

"Earlier, while I was sleeping, she-"

Weiss dives at him, slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Not. A. Word." She hisses.

Naruto points to her hand with an annoyed glare.

"If you shut up, I'll buy you dinner."

"Wow, going straight from first base to a home run, eh?"

Weiss turns to shoot Yang a glare. Ruby gives her older sister a questioning look to go along with it.

"Wait, first base? Home run? How'd we go from kissing to baseball?"

There is a moment as all of those present pause to stare at the silver-eyed girl. Then, Naruto pokes the hand over his mouth again, makes a zipping motion and signals 'ok'.

"Good." Weiss declares with a satisfied nod, removing her hand from his mouth. "Now keep your mouth shut and follow me."

Naruto shoves his hands into his pockets and shrugs without a word.

"Come on, whiskers. You really ditching us for the ice queen?" Yang asks half-jokingly.

He pats his stomach and shrugs again, as if to say 'no, I'm ditching you for free food'.

"And you-."

Ruby gulps when Weiss turns to her next. But she does not yell or scream. Instead, she only glares, pressing her lips into a flat line.

"Do us both a favor and stay as far away from me as possible."

Ruby winces, her gaze dropping to the floor.

"I-I'm sorry…"

Her apology goes unheard over the clacking of heels as the heiress walks away. It is like waking up to a splash of cold water. A reminder that even with her precious weapon returned to her, outside of a fight, she's still just an awkward, little girl who doesn't even know what she's doing. And even in a fight…

A sigh escapes her lips, her shoulders drop and she hugs Crescent Rose tighter to her chest, hugging the compact sniper-scythe as though to push away the memories of just how she lost it in the first place.

A hand pats her on the shoulder.

Ruby looks up to find Naruto, his expression blank. Unreadable.

Great, she mentally berates herself. Probably made him angry too.

He pulls out his scroll, swipes to open a picture and flips it around to show them. On the screen is a crude, but easily identifiable rendition of the Schnee Heiress in light blue, complete with scar and angry expression. An arrow with the word 'big' points to her head.

An arrow with the word 'small' points at her chest.

That gets a tiny chuckle out of her. A small smile tugs at Ruby's lips.

Another hand grips her shoulder, this one belonging to her sister.

"So I get the first one's supposed to be 'big head'." Yang grins. "But is the second supposed to be her heart or her boobs."

Naruto only smirks, this time patting her on the arm. He gives them a lazy wave and leaves to follow after Weiss. They both return the goodbye and Ruby feels a squeeze on her shoulder.

"Come on, forget about the ice queen," Yang says with a warm smile. "Let's go have a look around."

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(III)

Chapter 8: mask

* * *

She watches as he devours what she can only assume to be his ninth bowl of ramen, an estimate that may very well be entirely too generous considering the small mountain of empty dishware at his side.

How horrifying.

If nothing else, at least his stuffing of his face has prevented him from spewing out whatever unintelligible thoughts happen to be passing through that filthy mind of his.

In truth, there are two reasons she offered to pay for his food. First, as thanks. While she may not have approved of his method of doing so, she is thankful he blocked them from kissing. Of course, duty comes before romance. Becoming a huntress, redeeming her family name, finding _him_ , all of it comes before any schoolgirl thoughts of love. Even so, she'd rather her first kiss to be something meaningful instead of the result of a spur of the moment accident.

And second is to investigate the mysterious faunus. To solve the puzzle of this niggling sense of familiarity that itches at the back of her mind whenever she looks at him.

He is not particularly unattractive or unsightly. His eyes… eye… is striking. A perfect shade of baby blue marred only by the slight bags beneath his eyes and just about everything else about him. His scar is a curious mirror of her own, the eye closed simply as if there is no reason to keep it open. It had escaped her notice in the brief encounter from earlier in the day, but here, sitting only a table's breadth across from him, the line of discolored skin is all too clear to see. Still, the scar evokes only an odd sense of comradery, almost like seeing someone else wearing the same shirt.

… It must be the whiskers.

Perhaps the child of a mine worker? Or maybe the spawn of one of those vile White Fang. Even now, years after the fact, she is certain she would not have forgotten the presence of such conspicuous markings on any of their faces.

An invisible sigh escapes her lips. This is getting her nowhere.

All that's left is to ask him and see if he can provide some answers himself.

"So… um…"

It is at that moment it dawns on Weiss Schnee that for all her indignation over his refusal to use her name, she does not even know his.

"I'm Naruto, in case you were wondering," he pauses in his devastation of the noodles to answer her with an unconcerned air. He perks a brow. "Am I allowed to talk now?"

"Y-yes," she takes a sip of her water, silently cursing herself for the slight blush of embarrassment that makes its way over her cheeks. Had she really been that obviously staring at him?

"You know, I'm surprised," he admits, slurping up another mouthful of noodles. "I figured you'd have corrected the yellow one when she asked if we kissed. Though, I guess in some ways being see as a pervert isn't quite as bad as being seen as a creepo who goes up to people and touches their face while they're sleeping. I don't have to pretend to be your boyfriend now or anything do I?"

"Oh yes, we would just make the perfect pair, wouldn't we?" she sneers. "Me, the heiress of the largest producer of Dust in the world and you, some scruffy looking faunus who likes to peek up girl's skirts."

"I deny that statement." He responds with a nonplussed expression. "People are responsible for the consequences and results of their actions. Nothing can be gained without loss. You choose to wear a skirt, and as such, the price you pay for such freedom is the risk of such scrutiny."

"… What?"

"I didn't peek. You flashed me. I refuse to be labeled a pervert by someone who goes up to people and does this and that to them while they're sleeping."

"C-can you not make it sound so perverse?" she scowls, the blush spreading as she becomes all too aware of the glances and looks of the other patrons of the noodle shop. "Besides, you were having a nightmare."

"I am well aware," he drawls. "Thanks, I guess. But couldn't you have just tapped me on the shoulder or something?"

Her blush grows again. She takes another sip of water to cool her head.

"Well, whatever," he returns his attention to his food, finishing his current bowl of noodles. "Pretty much everyone was already gone and I don't think those two are the type to spread rumors… so, you have something to ask me? You've been staring for a pretty long time now."

"Gurk-!"

The water goes down the wrong pipe. She hacks and coughs, holding a hand over her mouth. The waiter brings another bowl of noodles and hands her some napkins.

"T-thank you..." Weiss says as she wipes her lips.

It is as though faced with the white-haired faunus's accusations, she has been made acutely aware of her own actions. And as justified as it may have been for his unforgivable comments on her bust size, even she is unable to argue in defense of her own behavior at the headmaster's speech, let alone their first encounter.

"S-so, Naruto…" she begins. Be casual, Weiss Schnee tells herself. The faunus himself doesn't look like he is holding a grudge, so there is no reason for her to be so apprehensive. She is paying for his food, isn't she? So, if nothing else, he should be willing to hear her out. "What do your parents do for a living…?"

"Kind of hard to do something for a living when you're dead."

"O-oh… what _did_ they do?"

"Dunno. Never met em."

"Any older brothers or sisters…?"

"Nope."

"Relatives?"

"Not that I know of."

This isn't even fair. It's like walking through a minefield. And while him being an orphan does go a long way to explain his lack of manners, it just makes _her_ feel that much worse that she is the one bringing something like that up, especially considering how the world views her and her family thanks to the actions of her father.

"Also, by the way? Not a faunus."

"Gurk-!"

This time, it is the air that goes down the wrong pipe.

"Yeah, these things are birthmarks," he explains, slurping up another mouthful of noodles. "Though, I guess you'd already know that."

Weiss takes another sip of water to compose herself, to hide the slight flush of embarrassment.

She almost prefers when he was just flat out insulting her.

"Well, it's not like everyone doesn't already know all of that stuff about your family, so I guess we can just call it even… ah, wait. How'd you get that scar?"

It is the first sign of interest he has shown in anything other than the food. Still, she can't help but scowl at the reminder. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Something, something, guilt tripping you about asking about my dead parents."

"You are shameless."

"I mean, I can pretend to be all offended and angry if you want."

It is almost refreshing in a way, this demolition style of brutal honesty. Weiss stares into his single eye for another moment before she sighs and shakes her head. There is no harm in telling him. Regardless of how annoying he has been, it can't be pleasant to have someone you barely even know asking about your literally non-existent family. If only to make it up to him, she ought to answer the question.

A sigh. Weiss purses her lips. Folds her arms, crosses her legs and resists the urge to scowl.

"Father… didn't want me to come to Beacon." Weiss begins to explain. She pauses. Hesitates, half expecting for him to say something to interrupt or insult her.

Instead, she finds the white-haired boy having stopped stuffing his face for the first time since they got here. His lone eye stares at her with a thinly veiled curiosity past the blank mask of laziness.

The interest is a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. Pushing past her unease, she continues.

"He wanted me to stay in Solitas, where it was 'safe'. Still, I managed to convince him to allow me to attend Beacon if I passed a test. That test was fighting an Arma Gigas. Obviously, I was able to defeat it. But during the fight, it managed to catch me off guard and…"

She trails off. Brings up a hand to trace the stretch of discolored skin over her left eye. " _This_ is a reminder. Of what it took for me to get here… and of what I have to give up if I go back."

"An Arma Gigas, huh…?" he perks a brow, leaning back as he takes a sip of water. "You beat a Gigas by yourself? That's pretty impressive."

"Hmph. Of course." Weiss says with a haughty smile. She brings a hand to her chest. "I _am_ a Schnee after all.

"Mm. Can you summon it?"

"… Excuse me?"

"Your semblance is Glyph, isn't it?" he asks. "I heard it was one of the few hereditary semblances in the Kingdoms. A system-based semblance that even lets you call upon the forms of any grimm you've killed in the past. So, if you beat that Arma Gigas, can you summon it?"

"… No I can't," she admits, a slight twitch in her eye. "You seem to know quite a bit about the Schnee family semblance…"

'Perhaps you've encountered it before', is the question that goes unsaid. It goes unanswered as well when the white-haired boy only shrugs and returns his attention to the last of the noodles in his current bowl. The already shaky smile falls from her lips and Weiss directs a wordless glare at her current dinner partner as the waiter delivers another bowl of noodles.

"What about you?"

"Hm?" Naruto makes a noise, already in the process of slurping up another mouthful of noodles.

"Where did you get _your_ scar?"

He takes a moment to finish slurping up the noodles. Chews. Swallows. And in a single breath, he says-

"Well~, one day while I was visiting a fr- _acquaintance_ in a cave this pumpkin guy came up to me and asked if I could help him baby sit some kids and I was like sure so we all went camping but then the kids were attacked by a wolf! But I don't mean like a big, bad wolf, I mean like a cute, little, baby wolf but it was still knocking them around so I stepped in and I got my eye cut out and then this old hag came out of nowhere and tried to eat me but I managed to get away and then I ran into Ozpin in a bar and he bought me some ramen and asked me if I wanted to come to Beacon."

For a moment, Weiss stares. Blinks. Furrows her brow. Blinks again, her brain trying and failing to process the whiskered boy's story.

"… What. That… What? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Yeah, I honestly have no idea how I ended up here either."

For a moment, Weiss stares at the white-haired boy, wondering if it is actually possible to lose brain cells just from listening to something so inconceivably stupid. She squeezes her eyes shut and rubs her forehead.

Then it dawns on her, the very last part of his seemingly nonsensical story.

"Wait," her eyes snap open and she slaps her hands on the table, leveling an incredulous stare at him. "You said Ozpin, as in Professor Ozpin himself, personally invited you to come to Beacon?"

"Bought me a bowl of ramen, too." Naruto replies, as if that detail is just as important as the others.

"Why would Professor Ozpin go out of his way to _personally_ invite you to Beacon?"

The question is asked in two parts curiosity and one-part jealousy. Even she, the heiress of the leading dust producer in the world, had to send in a formal application after passing her father's own 'test'. For Professor Ozpin to invite the boy himself…

"To be honest, that's what I'd like to know," Naruto admits, a far-off look in his eye. He glances at her. Looks away. His lips wrinkle into the beginnings of a scowl before he catches himself, his expression returning to a mask of lazy indifference.

"But… I have a few ideas."

None of them good and none he is willing to share, if the way he returns to his noodles and half-heartedly picks at them is any indication. Maybe he has eaten his fill, finally having finished trying to eat a hole through her wallet. Or, more than likely, something has just spoiled his appetite.

The memory of their first meeting drifts to the forefront of her mind. Her attention is drawn to the bags under his eyes.

"Why did you want to come to Beacon?"

Without looking up from his bowl, he asks her the very question she herself was about to ask him. His single blue eye glances up at her. "You said your old man didn't want you coming here, right? Well, why Beacon? After everything that happened three years ago…"

The last part is said in an almost robotic tone, as though he had very carefully scrubbed any sort of emotion from his voice. No condemnation or sympathy, no comfort or derision. It is the tone of someone walking on eggshells. Of someone trying not to offend with something they know would be found offensive.

" _Why don't you stay home? Where it is safe?"_

Her temper flares like a match thrown into a vat of oil.

"The only thing that incident proved is that my 'home' is anything but _safe_." Weiss spits the last word out like a curse. "That isn't why my father wants me to stay in Atlas. All he cares about is keeping me where he can control me, where he can mold me into his perfect, little heiress. My 'safety' is the farthest thing from his mind."

She regrets the words almost as soon as she says them. In her mind, she silently curses herself for letting her anger get the better of her.

After all, here she is complaining about her father to someone who has never even met theirs, someone who, from what she has gleamed from their conversation, has never had anything resembling family. She can only imagine how pompous and self-absorbed she must look right now.

The anger drains out of her in a sigh. "I'm so-"

"Hey, you want the rest of this?"

He interrupts her, nudging the barely touched bowl of noodles towards her. Weiss blinks, unsure just how to interpret the gesture. The only reason they came here is because of his insistence that they go somewhere with ramen. In truth, she planned to go somewhere else to have dinner by herself after paying for his food, but it would be a lie to say the aroma of the shop isn't making her the least bit hungry.

"Um… I'm not eating, so-"

"What?" his lips twitch into the beginnings of a smirk. "Can't use chopsticks either?"

"Ugh, of course I can!" Weiss snaps, taking her pair of chopsticks and breaking them, only fumbling them a little before she fits them to her hand.

"So, I'm not exactly the foremost expert on dads, considering I don't even know who mine is…"

Naruto flicks the side of the bowl and it slides across the table like a piece of ice over glass. He taps the table with a finger and the bowl comes to a stop just in front of her. "But, the general consensus seems to be that your dad's a massive dick. So it doesn't look like I'm all that far off."

"Oh, I am well aware," Weiss scoffs. She curls her lips at the bowl of noodles. "And, if you don't mind, I'd rather not have your left overs-."

She tries to do the very same as he did, lightly pushing the side of the bowl to send it back over to him. Instead, the bowl slides all of an inch before it stops.

"Pft-"

A choked laugh. Weiss glares at Naruto, glares at the bowl of noodles and narrows her eyes. A trail of pure white glyphs appears under the bowl, over the surface of the table and she gives it another dainty nudge.

Again, it moves about an inch before it stops.

Naruto smirks as he waves the waiter over. "Hey old man, could I get another bowl over here?"

"Sorry kid, you ate it all! That's the last one!"

The smirk vanishes like dust to the wind. He turns back to her.

"I change my mind, I want that back."

In response, Weiss perks a brow. Without ever breaking eye contact, she pushes her bangs back, takes the chopsticks and brings a tangle of noodles to her lips.

Firm but not too firm, with just the right amount of flavor. While it may not be her usual fare, she will admit the noodles are quite good. Even if they are somewhat cheap. Still, the taste of the noodles pales in comparison to the sheer satisfaction she feels from seeing the disgruntled look on his face as he watches her eat the last bowl.

"Well, that's your dad, but what about your mom?" he asks. "You've got a brother and a sister too, right? What about them?"

"My mother is a drunk who would rather spend an afternoon at the bottom of a bottle of wine than spend it with her children, my younger brother hates me and not wanting me to attend Beacon, for whatever reason, seemed to be one of the _very_ few things my older sister and my father actually agreed on."

It is childish yes, and there is a part of her that questions if it is appropriate to share all of this with a complete stranger, but she still can't help but feel a tinge of triumph at the gob smacked look on his face.

"Families are hard, huh…?" Naruto muses, glancing away and scratching his cheek. He turns his gaze back to her. "Yeah, you know I have a godfather? I don't really know if it counts, but apparently my parents named me after the main character in the first book he ever wrote."

"Oh." Weiss perks a brow. It isn't a blood relation so it isn't quite what she is looking for, but it is something for starters. "That's nice."

"It'd be nicer if he hadn't forgot about the whole 'godfather' thing for a good thirteen years."

"My god," she blanches. "Thirteen years?! What was he doing that whole time?"

"Drinking. Perving. Just generally not being around when I actually needed him." He scoffs, taking a drink of water. "I fucking hate the guy."

Naruto seems to realize something. He winces slightly, the anger draining out of his expression. "Sorry, I wasn't really trying to one-up you or anything. It's just… I think I get where you're coming from. Sort of."

Weiss perks a brow. Raises her cup with a dry expression. "To our mutually absent, alcoholic guardians?"

A scoff. "I'd say 'guardians' is far too generous, but sure."

He meets her toast, their cheap, plastic cups tapping together.

"Hey, explain something to me," Naruto says after taking a sip of water.

"You were pretty big on the whole 'I'm the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and I will not be belittled in such a manner'!" he says, even mimicking her voice. "But it sounds like you're not exactly fond of the idea of your dad handing the company down to you… so which is it?"

Again, he catches her off-guard. It's like whenever she thinks he wasn't paying attention, he waits until just the worst moment to prove her wrong. Bringing another length of noodles to her lips, Weiss regards the boy who Professor Ozpin personally invited to attend Beacon, those whisker marks of his looking less and less like a cat's whiskers and more like the whiskers of a fox.

"It's not-" she pauses a moment to finish chewing, bringing a hand to her mouth. "Excuse me. The Schnee Dust Company _will_ be mine someday, but I refuse to follow in my father's footsteps."

"Uhhh, what?"

This time he returns a dumb stare. Weiss gives him a raised brow, unable to decide whether he really is that dumb, or if he's just playing clueless to try and catch her off guard again.

"The name Schnee has a long and noble history, a history that has since entered a morally gray area ever since my father married into it," she explains, the very thought bringing a sour taste to her mouth. "His legacy is a _stain_ on _my_ family's good name."

"Before, Schnee was a name loved and respected throughout Remnant. My grandfather's company was a shining symbol of industry and prosperity. But ever since my father came into power…"

She scowls. "Well, you've heard the rumors."

"So you basically want to redeem your family name…?" he muses, biting his chopsticks. "I guess I can understand that. You guys are basically the Gato Corp of the Kingdoms. Only difference is Papa Schnee doesn't really have to worry about getting knifed in his sleep cause he pissed off one of the Shinobi Villages… but what I don't understand is, if you hate your dad and what he's turned the SDC into, why not throw it all away? That stain… in the end, no matter what you do, people aren't so willing to forgive and forget. So why not renounce him and everything he's done? Throw everything away so you can rebuild from the ground up."

"My father was not the start of our name. I refuse to let him be the end of it."

Naruto says nothing. He leans back. Taps his chopsticks against the table. That single blue eye of his looks away, a small, bitter smile making its way across his cheeks. "You know, I'm jealous… wanting to show the world that the actions of one, shitty person don't define you… even if that person is your own father. That's good. That's as good a reason as any to be here."

It is the first time she has seen him smile. It is a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. A familiar smile.

"Well, why are you here?"

"Because I'm an idiot."

Before she can ask him what he means, he tosses the chopsticks onto the table and downs the rest of his water. "Well, thanks for the food. I've got some prep to do for tomorrow, so if you don't need anything else, I'll be taking my leave."

His fingers form into the very same seal from their first encounter.

"Wait!"

Her voice leaps, almost unbidden from her throat. To her surprise, he does not vanish, instead giving her a raised brow.

"Um…" She didn't expect to actually have been able to stop him. A part of her wishes she hadn't, wishing she had kept to herself, especially after her disastrous attempt to ask about his family. But now, all there is to do is spit it out and hope she doesn't accidently stumble upon yet another metaphorical landmine.

"Have we… met before? I mean, before today…"

He says nothing, continuing to stare at her with that striking blue eye of his. Then, he scratches the whisker marks on his cheeks.

"The only person I know of with a scar like that is a guy who reads porn all the time."

A pause. His gaze drop to her breasts.

"… Sorry, I'm not good with girly guys and boyish girls. You're not actually a dude in a dress, are you?"

She throws the soy sauce bottle at his face.

He catches the bottle with a smirk, setting it back on the table and vanishing into a swirl of golden embers.

That-! That-! That _perverted mongrel_!

Weiss growls, glaring at the empty chair as though she might be able to summon back its previous occupant so she can exact her righteous vengeance. Alas, the pervert does not return, leaving her only able to stew in her anger.

That mongrel. That vile, unthankful, _perverted, brainless, sloppy-looking, boob-obsessed_ _mongrel!_ Faunus or not, there is no other word in her mind she could possibly use to describe that _creature_. The absolute nerve! After she even paid for his food, how dare he comment on her admittedly modest breast size?!

Sure, she may not have the same figure as her older sister… or the aptly named 'tit monster' from earlier… or even the dolt who tripped over her luggage…

Ugh.

If nothing else, at least she's found an answer to her question.

There is no way they could have possibly met before.

Because there is _no way_ she would _ever_ forget someone so _unbelievably annoying.  
_

* * *

 **AN: And we are beginning to pull into the stations of canon. I tried to give it my own spin on things, but there is some stuff I needed to happen so I kind of had to go through it. That's also part of the reason this chapter is a bit longer. I was thinking of splitting it in half, but I'd rather not have an entire chapter just be 'basically canon but Naruto is there'.**

 **The poll is telling me that the majority of people are okay with the current state of fight scenes, but I will try to make them a bit more meaningful from now on, as I understand not wanting to read through 3k words of people punching each other when there's really no reason to care who wins. Also, some people have been asking about pairings. I do have something in mind, but I'd rather not spoil it just because I do feel like it is part of the story. I hope people are willing to bear with me on that.**

 **For this chapter:**

 **-Just the characterization in general. I'm writing mostly from the Naruto side of things, so I'm a bit paranoid about whether or not I'm doing the RWBY side justice. This chapter in particular is entirely from the RWBY-characters POV, so I'm very interested in people's thoughts on the matter.**

 **-Does it feel like Weiss opened up to Naruto a bit too quickly? There are a bunch of things kind of going around in the background there and I'm wondering whether or not I did a good enough job at conveying it.**

 **Edited 9/3.**


	9. Chapter 9: Fishcake

The setting sun casts a blanket of fire over the skies of Vale. Orange and yellow engulf the horizon. A tide of night douses the flames as it reaches upwards and creeps across the sky, the fading light retreating back after the setting sun. The jagged outline of Remnant's shattered moon is just visible in the distance, once broken fragments beginning to return to the whole.

Below, the future students of Beacon Academy filter into the ballroom to rest, to relax and to prepare for the trials and tribulations of the coming days. Boys and girls, humans and faunus, big and small, all united by a common goal.

And it is there, separated, hidden away from everyone else, that she finds him. Seated atop the roof of the ballroom, hunched over, curled almost into a ball as he stares at the creeping shadows on the horizon.

The strange, white-haired boy with the whisker markings. A growing mystery, ever since she first saw him.

It wasn't like she was planning on sticking her neck out for every faunus she saw, crusading against every injustice she came across. But seeing someone so young, so reckless, about to create a scene, she couldn't help but step in.

Maybe he was just from somewhere like Vacuo, where strength and the willingness to stand up for oneself was something to be respected. Maybe it was just a result of his age, the boy's youth all too obvious in the crowd. Maybe he just didn't care to let himself be pushed around. Whatever the reason, at the very least she figured she could step in, give the boy a word of warning and be on her way. No more, no less.

That was the plan, at least. Blake didn't plan on getting too involved. And she definitely didn't plan on the boy _somehow_ figuring out she's a faunus.

But he did. And he didn't hold it against her. And apparently, he himself isn't even a faunus.

Not only that… but 'Naruto'. The boy's name. It breaks the typical naming convention of the Kingdoms. It doesn't mean, or have any relation to, a color. It didn't click for her until later. In the common tongue of Remnant, the name has no particular meaning. But in another language, in another place almost a world away, it means 'Maelstrom'.

Or 'Fishcake'.

But the meaning is less important than the fact that name isn't one that comes from the Kingdoms.

It comes from Soshima, the Island of the Elementals. And while Soshima is widely known for its inhabitants' ability to perform jaw-dropping feats of elemental manipulation and its hidden shinobi villages, nobody can deny the influence a _certain_ adult book series has had on demystifying the Island of the Elementals. Sure, it is _supposedly_ a semi-autobiographical account of the author's own experiences, however embellished and overly exaggerated they may be…

But why settle for second when there's a source for a firsthand account so close by?

Of course, it isn't the most important thing. Only a passing detail, one barely even worthy of note. Who cares that there is a good chance the boy in front of her hails from the same land as the author of Icha Icha Paradise? It's not important. It isn't. Really. What's more important is asking him about the Kage Bunshin, convincing him to cover up his whisker marks, introducing herself… after all, it's common knowledge that there are no clones that just magically transfers their memories back to their creator when they dispel. So, since she has already 'met' him, from his point of view, this will be their first encounter. It's only polite for her to introduce herself.

It is basically at least 50% of the reason she went out of her way to look for him, with the other 40% being concern over his flippant attitude about his whisker markings. Curiosity about his homeland is only, like, 10% of the reason she sought him out. Or 5%. No, at most 1%. 0.1%. Really the thought never even crossed her mind.

With a silent breath, Blake calms the inexplicable heat in her cheeks. She smooths her face into an expressionless mask and prepares to announce her presence, as if she isn't about to ask a boy maybe two years her junior about the supposedly non-fictional setting of her favorite erotica.

…

It actually sounds so much worse now that she thinks about it.

"So this is where you've been."

"Huh?" Naruto blinks, glancing back at her. "Oh, it's you, Jake."

"It's… Blake," she corrects, raising an eyebrow. "What're you doing up here?"

"Pondering the meaning of life."

"And you decided to do it… on the roof?"

"Yep."

Blake sighs, gives the rough equivalent of a mental shrug and goes to sit next to the white-haired boy, taking the side of his good eye.

"You never answered my question."

"Huh?" For a moment the white-haired boy returns a blank stare and she is reminded again that this is, in fact, their first face to face meeting. The 'Naruto' she ran into earlier was just a clone.

"Oh, you mean how I know I'm not a faunus even though I got these whisker things?"

A clone that _can_ transfer its memories back to the original, apparently.

Well, he did know her name. Sort of. So she should have figured that he'd remember everything else too.

The white-haired not-faunus shrugs. "I can't see in the dark. You faunus are supposed to have night vision, right? I don't have anything like that so I'm guessing I'm not half dog or fox or whatever."

"Not all faunus do." Blake says, pointing to her eyes. "It is a dominate trait but since faunus and humans can crossbreed, it's possible for the child of a half-faunus and a human to receive two recessive genes from their parents."

"Uh…" he gives her a blank look. "What?"

"Not all faunus have night vision," she explains simply. "Where either of your parents faunus?"

He holds up his hand in an 'o' for zero.

"Wouldn't know. You probably know about as much about my parents as I do."

Or for orphan.

Blake glances away. "I'm sorry. I… shouldn't have pressed so much on this."

"Meh, don't worry about it," he waves away her apology. "I'm glad. You're not the first to ask about my parents so it's good to know I don't come off as some, sad orphan with a _reeeally_ depressing backstory or anything like that."

It takes a conscious effort to keep from staring. There is a marked difference between how the clone had acted and the demeanor of the boy in front of her. It makes enough sense. Because of their shorter life-span, it isn't unreasonable to argue a sentient clone would act with less restraint compared to the original. Still, the difference is unsettling. It feels like it is more than the simple difference between a clone and the original.

' _Did something happen?'_

Naruto leans back, leaning against his arms as he turns his gaze back to the horizon. It is clear his mind is somewhere else. "So you were looking for me? You're not here to kill me 'cause I pissed off your boss or anything like that, right?"

"No…" Considering who her last 'employer' was, somehow she doubts that. "You're from Soshima, aren't you? The Island of the Elementals?"

"Soshima?" That gets his attention. He turns to her with his lone blue eye and perks a brow. "Been a while since I heard someone in the Kingdoms use that name. But yeah, I'm from Soshima. Why?"

A voice in the back of her head urges her to question the boy on the various ways aura can be used in his homeland. She crushes the voice. Violently. "What was life like for faunus over there? Do you know?"

He gives her a questioning look. "Why do you care?"

"I'm just… curious." A pause. "Please _don't_ make the cat joke."

"Well you know what they say…"

She gives him a slight glare. He chuckles and shrugs.

"If you're asking if it's anything like in the Kingdoms, I'd say it depends," he tilts his head back in thought.

"Mizu no Kuni," his face twitches into a blank mask and his eyes cloud over. "There, no one really cares who or what you are… there people only really care about how strong you are. Same in Kaminari no Kuni, though they're a bit more subtle about it…"

"Kamanari… which one is that?"

"Kaminari. Land of Lightning. Tsuchi no Kuni… I know Iwakagure no Sato has a hunter division of faunus just for night operations."

"The hidden villages have huntsmen?"

"Hunting squads, not huntsmen. They're the ones who track down runaway ninjas and criminals and people like that. Kaze no Kuni, between the heat and the sandstorms and the grimm, no one really has the time for care about something like whether you have tails or wings or whatever. I'd say it's a lot like Vacuo."

"You've been to all these places?"

"I have."

"Wow," she perks a brow. "You really like to travel, don't you?"

"Something like that," he shrugs. "As for the smaller provinces… usually they're a lot like whatever big county they're closest to. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but, in general, that's what I've seen in each place."

' _It really is just like in Icha Icha…'_ Blake thinks to herself. Steering her thoughts away from that deep, dark hole, she looks to the younger boy. "What about you?"

"Hm?"

"Where are you from?"

He goes silent for a moment. His face twitches again and his eyes drift to the horizon. "… Hi no Kuni. The Land of Fire."

"Well, what was it like there?"

"It's… complicated," he grimaces. "What about you? You from Vale?"

"Menagerie."

"Oh? Never been there before. So, what's brought you all the way here, to Vale? Other than the whole 'becoming a huntress' thing, I guess. Running away from a dark and troubled past? Fleeing from a jilted ex-lover? Or maybe just a change in scenery."

Blake resists the urge to shiver. _'Good instincts…'_

"… Something like that," she says in a nondescript tone. "What about you?"

The white-haired boy gives her a dry smile. "I'll let you know when I figure it out.

She perks a brow. "You don't know why you're here?"

"The longer I'm here, the longer I think about it, the more apparent it gets," he says in a sigh. "Ozpin asked if I wanted to come. I said I'd think about it. And here I am. Guess I didn't think about it hard enough."

"Professor Ozpin invited you to come to Beacon?"

"Bought me a bowl of ramen too."

That gets a slight chuckle out of her. "Well if Professor Ozpin personally invited you, it's obvious he saw something inside of you, right?"

"Something inside of me, huh?" he chuckles, his lips curving into a lopsided grin. "Yeah… he _is_ Ozpin, after all…"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. I mean, why'd you decide to come in the first place?"

"Well…" he sighs. Pulls his legs in, his shoulders slouching ever so slightly. His posture, his actions, all of it speaks of a reluctance to share what brought him all the way from the Land of Fire to Vale, yet still his face remains as blank and unreadable as a hunk of wood.

It is eerie in a way. How someone so young can hide their emotions so well.

"All I've really got going for me is that I don't really 'die' when I'm killed, that I'm good at killing things and that I can apparently give some pretty good massages," he lists off without a single change in his expression. "The last one's not exactly something I can imagine myself doing for a living, and as for the other two… well, as far as hunters go, that's right up their alley, isn't it? So when an opportunity like this just falls into my lap..."

So much to comment on. So much she _should_ comment on. "One of those isn't quite like the others…"

A scoff. "Yeah. The shit bag who taught me how to make clones? He taught me a lot of other things too. And he's a massive pervert. A MASSIVE pervert. Pretty much _everything_ I learned from him has some sort of secondary, pervy potential."

"How are clone-" Blake manages to catch herself. That question pretty much answers itself. "Is he the reason you can see past my bow? And combat skirts?"

"Yep. Bastard's got some sort of personal grudge against them. Combat skirts, I mean. Not bows. Though I guess they fall into the same category or whatever since I can see your ears all the same. Speaking of which…"

The white-haired boy sits up and gives her a curious glance, his gaze drifting to the top of her head. "Why do you cover them like that?"

"What do you mean? Why do I use a ribbon?"

"Why do you even bother covering them up to begin with," he clarifies.

"I… I told you didn't I?" she glances away, crosses her arms. "People are riled up because of the Demon Fox appearing in Vale. There's an energy in the air and it's not like in Soshima. People here, in the Kingdoms… here faunus are treated as sub-human. The best thing to do is to pretend to be human and try to blend in."

The reasoning sounds weak, even to her. Because it isn't just about being a faunus. It is about what she has done because of that, how the world pushed her and what she did to push back. The growing stigma that has come to haunt the faunus of the Kingdoms, one she has had a hand in creating.

That for many people, 'faunus' has become synonymous with 'White Fang'. With violence. With a disregard for life, be it human or otherwise. That it has taken her this long to see what the White Fang was and what it has turned into.

In a sense, the bow atop her head isn't just to hide her heritage. It is to deny it. To cover it up in hopes she can build something new, something better, in its place.

"You should too," Blake says. "Even if you are human, there's no guarantee people are going to believe you. You'd probably be better off wearing a mask or something."

"Hmph," a smile. It is a small, sharp smile, one that sends a shiver down her spine. "Somehow… I get the feeling that won't work out too well for me. Besides-"

Then, that smile softens. His lone eye goes hazy, clouding over as he stares off into the distance. "It's not like I don't understand what you're saying. I'm not a faunus, but… well, let's just say while we don't have the same problems with faunus as you guys do in the Kingdoms, the people of the Elemental Nations are a superstitious bunch. And I was born on the same day a giant ass fox grimm nearly destroyed my home village."

"Oh." Blake physically winces at that. It's no wonder he didn't want to talk about his home. "I'm sorry."

"Huh?" he looks over at her. It takes him a moment to realize just what she is apologizing for. "Oh, no don't worry about it. I just wanted you to know I'm not exactly talking out of my ass here. In my experience, secrets like those… they tend to have this annoying habit of always coming out at the worst possible time."

"Maybe you'll just get too riled up in an argument, maybe some asshole will just decide to yank it off for shits and giggles, whatever it is, I'd be willing to bet _something_ is going to happen to that ribbon. And it's going to just be a whole lot of meaningless drama that could have easily been avoided."

"You really think so?"

"I mean, I can understand where you're coming from," he shrugs. "Hell, I'd _agree_ with you if this were, say, Atlas. Or Mistral. But this is Vale and apparently, this place is, like, the bleeding heart of the kingdoms. Other than generic-school-bully-guy, no one's really tried to start anything with me because of my whiskers."

A pause. He tilts his head. "Well I did get hugged twice. So I guess if you're not into hugs, there's that."

"Hugged?"

"Yeah, something about how they have a dog at home and apparently dogs and foxes are family or something…"

"Well, they are both canids…"

"Ca-what?"

"Canids." she repeats with a roll of her eyes. "Foxes, dogs and wolves are all canids."

"Huh… anyway, the point is, sure you might get some… interesting reactions, but it's nowhere near as bad as it gets. If anything, I get the feeling the people here would be more pissed that you thought you needed to hide yourself from them to begin with than they would be at you being a faunus."

Blake says nothing for a moment. Lets out a sigh.

"Look… I get what you're saying. And you're not wrong, but… this is different. My ears aren't like your whiskers. I can't just wait for someone to say something about them, tell them I'm not a faunus and laugh it off. Because I am a faunus. And… and until people won't judge me for that, I'd rather stick to the shadows and try to blend in the best I can."

Naruto stares at her for another moment. Blake finds herself unable to meet his gaze. There is a beat of silence before the white-haired boy turns away, closes his eye and shrugs.

"Do as you wish."

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(IV)

Chapter 9: Ramen, Puke and Cookies

* * *

When Yang had first heard about Ruby's encounter with the Demon Fox, she had never been more terrified in her life. Not for herself, of course, but for her precious little sister.

Ruby can handle herself in a fight. That much Yang Xaio Long knows. Even if 'hopeless' is a little generous in describing her sister's abilities in hand to hand, with her sniper-scythe at her side? The little reaper is a force to be reckoned with. Grimm? No problem. Street thugs? Piece of cake.

The youngest person to ever get his picture next to an _**S**_ in the bingo books?

To say Yang had a panic attack that night would be putting it lightly.

She was already one foot out the door by the time her dad had told her he'd already received a call from the police that Ruby was okay. What's more, she'd even received an acceptance letter to Beacon, handed to her directly by Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin, one of the most powerful men to ever walk the surface of Remnant. And the author of one of the best-selling erotica of their time. She had even received an autographed copy of his newest work.

Which Yang, in her duties as the older sister to a minor, had confiscated. For safekeeping of course.

The nightmare had become a dream. Not only was her precious sister safe and sound, she would even be attending Beacon with her in the fall! The perfect happily ever after to a night that very well could have ended in unspeakable disaster.

Except it wasn't.

While Ruby might have brought back an acceptance letter and a porn book, the one thing she didn't manage to bring back with her was her beloved sniper-scythe. She said it was fine. She would always say it was fine with a happy smile. Then, she would reach for her Crescent Rose and that smile would wilt just a little bit more each more each time.

Yang knows she should be happy for her sister, happy that Ruby has finally reunited with her beloved Rose. And she is happy for her. Ever since Naruto returned the sniper-scythe to her, her little sister has yet to let the thing out of her sight even for a second. Of course. After all, she has always had a rather… healthy attachment to the weapon. So Yang understands why she would be so happy to finally have it back.

Even so…

"Erm… Ruby?"

"Yes Yang?"

"You… know we were supposed to leave our weapons in the lockers, right?"

"Yes."

Yang sighs and looks to her adorable little sister, dressed in her , hugging the high-caliber sniper-scythe like some sort of giant, metal, teddy bear. Smiling like there is nothing wrong in the world.

"Ruby, I thought we already went over this at home. Remember? Dad said you aren't allowed to bring Crescent Rose with you when you go to bed."

"Well dad's not here!" her little sister says, hugging the sniper-scythe tighter. She pauses and looks around. "And besides, I don't think dad would approve of all the boys either."

"I know I… oh, what the hell, whiskers?!"

Yang gapes. Ruby giggles. Dressed in a plain, white t-shirt and black pajama bottoms, Naruto perks a brow, his right eye having apparently finished healing and some sort of floppy creature with googly eyes having taken residence atop his head.

"What?" he asks.

"Come here." Yang commands, dragging her sister along with her as she makes her way over to the poor boy.

"How's it going, red?"

"Hi, Naruto!"

The two fifteen-year-olds exchange greetings. Yang puts her hands on her hips.

"Really? Neither of you sees anything wrong with… just… this?" she asks, gesturing at the both of them.

They look to each other and shrug. As though one of them weren't holding a giant metal blade on a stick with the other wearing what may well be the stupidest looking nightcap she's ever seen.

Yang sighs. Puts a hand to her brow and shakes her head.

"Okay, let's start with you." she turns to Naruto first. "What are you wearing and, more importantly, _why_ are you wearing it? Get with the program, whiskers!"

Yang nods her head at the other side of the ballroom. Naruto glances over at the shirtless and flexing would-be-huntsmen, their chiseled muscles and flawless physiques on full display. He crosses his arms and gives her a flat look.

"What part of 'not-sixteen-yet' do you not understand?"

"The part where I would do _things_ to you if you were. Unspeakable things. Things I am not going to describe in front of my little sister."

Her smile grows just a bit wider at the blush that creeps across both of the younger teens' faces.

"Yang!"

She ignores her sister's indignant cry and gives Naruto a sultry smile, tugging at the bottom of her tank-top. "Come on, whiskers. You take off yours, I'll take off mine."

His eyes widen. Without hesitation, the white-haired boy grabs at his shirt.

"Yang!" Ruby drops her sniper-scythe, diving to stop him. "Naruto, no!"

"Dammit red, let go!" Naruto grunts, battling her to try and rip his shirt off.

"Go!"

"Come on!"

"You can do it, little, whiskered dude!"

Voices of cheer rise up from the other side of the ballroom, for a moment every male in the room uniting for the sake of a single cause. By all means, Naruto should have been able to throw Ruby off of him with ease. Yang had experienced his strength first-hand, something in no small part responsible for her desire to see just what sort of muscles the younger boy has hidden under that frumpy shirt. Even so, her little sister somehow manages to pin his arms, wrapping herself around him like a giant koala.

"Alright, give it a rest you two," Yang waves her hand with a wide grin. "It was just a joke."

There is a collective groan from the other side of the room. Naruto ceases his struggling and clicks his tongue. He gives Ruby a flat look. "Hey, it's done. You wanna get off me now?"

"Yeah, I-" Ruby blinks. She pats his chest and stomach. "Wow, you've, uh… really got some muscles under there."

"So, I've been told," he says in a dry tone, looking to Yang with an equally dry stare. "She usually this touchy-feely around people?"

"Nope." Yang grins as Ruby hops off him.

"Sorry," her little sister apologizes with an embarrassed blush, picking her sniper-scythe back up off the floor. "It… I don't know. It kind of feels like we've met before."

"I'd think that'd make you more wary of me than anything…"

"And why are you complaining again?" Yang puts an arm around her little sister's shoulder. "Who wouldn't want such a cute girl all over them?"

"Ugh, get off!" Ruby pushes her away.

Naruto perks a brow. "I'd say you warmed up to me pretty quick too, considering how the first thing we did was try to beat the crap out of each other."

"What, you mean you _don't_ make friends by punching them in the face?"

"Not particularly." A blink. "We're friends?"

"Course we are, stupid!"

"I don't remember agreeing to this."

"Well, I agreed for you!" Yang chirps. "And as your friend, it is my duty to inform you of the terrible creature that has taken residence atop your head."

"Hey, don't hate on Mr. Baku," Naruto tugs on his nightcap. "He helps me sleep at night."

"Take that off," Yang snatches away the hat. She turns to her little sister and holds out her hand. "Ruby…"

"Auuu…" with an adorable whimper, Ruby relinquishes her beloved weapon.

"Now go!" Yang ushers the two younger teens. "Mingle. Talk. Be normal people."

"Don't wanna." Naruto pulls his nightcap out from behind his back. Somehow. He places it back on his head and walks away.

"Huh." Yang looks to her empty hand. "How'd he do that? Anyway…"

She yanks away the sniper-scythe as Ruby pounces, trying to reclaim her weapon.

"As for _you_ " Yang turns to her sister. " _You_ need to get out and talk to people more. Meet new people!"

"Why?!" Ruby pouts. "I don't like meeting new people! Bad things happen when I meet new people!"

"Like what?" Yang asks, looking over at a tall blond in light blue, footie pajamas. "Didn't you make friends with Jaune? That's, like, plus one friend, right?"

"Yeah! And I exploded Weiss and just word-vomited all over Naruto! That puts me at, like, negative one!"

"No, that's just one friend and one enemy and… well."

Yang looks over as both of said white-haired teens cross paths. A pause. Naruto greets the heiress, saying something inaudible to the yellow and red sisters. And Weiss snaps, hurling obscenities at the younger male.

"Seeing as how Weiss hates his guts and 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', that's two friends!" Yang gives Ruby a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "Not bad for your first day!"

"I don't think that's how it works…" Ruby sighs. "And besides, I'm not _the_ friend. I'm the friend's weird, little sister."

"Ruby. We literally spent the first half-hour after we met punching each other in the face. I don't think he cares that you made a bit of a fuss over his whisker marks."

"Really?"

Jaune makes his way over to the two white-haired teens, attempting to calm the raging heiress with his suave charm. He fails. Yang thinks she hears the words 'snow angel'. Weiss sneers. Naruto and Jaune meet each other's eyes.

Silence falls. There is a moment as the two boys stare at one another, their gazes fixed, tense, locked upon the adversary before them. A beat.

And both raise their right arms, firmly clasping the others' hand.

"That's a nice hat! It must keep your head warm at night, right?!"

"Those pajamas are really comfortable, aren't they? Like a full body blanket."

Weiss face palms. Yang echoes the sentiment with a dry smile.

"I think you're good," she says to her little sister. She puts an arm around her shoulder. "See? You've got friends all around you…"

Her eyes drift to Naruto, who goes right back to arguing with Weiss without missing a beat, the two white-haired teens bickering on the other side of the room. "… even if they're having a little trouble admitting it. And the others, well, you just haven't met them yet."

The flick of a lighter. A crackle of flame. Tucked away, off to the side, a girl with a large, black bow curls up with a book next to a freshly lit candle. Before Yang can even ask why someone would need another light source in an already fairly well-lit room, her sister's voice interrupts her.

"That girl…"

"You know her?"

"Not really. She saw what happened this morning but left before I could say anything."

"Well, now's your chance!"

"Wait! What're you doing-?!"

…

* * *

 **AN: A bit shorter chapter than I'd have liked, but it also included the re-written part of chapter 6. There is a poll up on my profile, just whether you prefer the old version of Naruto meeting Blake or the newer version. Of course, feel free to leave a review, but I would also appreciate if you could vote on the poll.**

 **See you next week…**

 **Edited 9/3. Removed edited part of chapter 6.**


	10. Chapter 10: Bedtime Story

So the girl's name was Blake. She seemed nice… if a little introverted. They talked a bit. She managed to not make a complete fool of herself. It was nice.

…

It's dark. The floor is kind of uncomfortable. Someone's snoring on the other side of the room. Her nose feels stuffy.

She can't sleep.

…

First day at Beacon. It was… okay. Sure, she may have literally exploded and compared her sister's new friend to their pet dog, but he didn't seem to mind. New faces. New places. New weapons. A whole new world, just waiting for her to reach out and take the first step.

A step she should be preparing for by being asleep.

…

Ruby rolls over in her comforter. Hugs the compact form of Crescent Rose to her chest. Spurred by the return of her beloved weapon, her thoughts cannot help but drift to that fateful night it was first taken from her.

Memories of a robbery in the night. Of a battle beyond her comprehension. Of burning gold and an ashen white mask.

The last time she saw Crescent Rose, it was in his hands, wreathed in a cloak of golden flame. Then, if the sniper-scythe is now here with her…

" _-Then who's going to save me?"_

It's wrong, isn't it?

She should hate the person who stole Crescent Rose away from her. She should be happy that her beloved weapon has been returned. And yet the relief she feels at having the sniper-scythe back by her side is spoiled by a tenseness in her chest, a knot that coils just a bit tighter every time her mind drift to the memories of that night.

' _It's not like…'_ Ruby finds herself unable to finish the thought. _'He… he could have just left it somewhere for them to find! Yeah! Or maybe he sold it and the police tracked it down! It's not like… they didn't…'_

A shiver crawls down her spine. She lets out a sigh. Tries to think of something else. Anything else. Yet, her mind just can't escape the fateful night and the encounter that may very well be the entire reason she is even at this school. That night…

What did she even do that night?

What did she do to deserve an acceptance letter to somewhere like Beacon Academy?

It is a question that has haunted her since before she even returned home to tell her family the good news, one that has come up again and again ever since she arrived at the prestigious school. Between her disastrous meetings with Weiss and Naruto _and_ the fact that she and Jaune spent a good half hour walking circles around Beacon before their combined brainpower(read, mostly Jaune) managed to come up with the genius idea of just looking up the location of the amphitheater on their scroll, there is very little evidence to her sister's claim of her being invited to come to Beacon two years early because she is 'special'.

Not to mention the sum total of her contribution to stopping the robbery that night is a resounding '0', an estimate that may very well be entirely too generous considering how the masked criminal had wielded the stolen Crescent Rose while he fought Professor Goodwitch.

Of course, whether or not he even needed the weapon is another question, considering how he had created not one but two clones beforehand.

Two clones that had promptly defeated the professor in short order.

Sure, she managed to land that one hit while he wasn't using his tails… but that is about as much of an accomplishment as beating Uncle Qrow in a sparring match after the older huntsmen has spent the entire night before clearing out the local bar's stock of alcohol. It isn't even like she is proud or happy about it either! It makes her feel terrible. The thought that she may have crippled someone who, for all appearances, wasn't even trying to hurt her.

And since he probably made those clones _before_ she sliced out his eye…

…

What did she even do that night?

Does she really deserve to be here?

The silence is deafening. Ruby Rose hugs Crescent Rose to her chest, curling into a ball as she buries herself into her comforter.

Then, she hears the rustle of sheets. Ruby pokes her head out from under the covers just in time to see a student rise and begin to move, silent as a ghost. His footsteps are silent. In the dark, she can't see his face, but the goofy nightcap atop his unruly white-hair is unmistakable. Without a sound, he all but glides across the ballroom, opening the door and stepping outside.

… _Naruto?_

Looks like she's not the only one having trouble sleeping.

Maybe she should get some fresh air too.

' _Is he sleepwalking…?'_

She rises and follows him outside, her feet scuffing against the floor, the hinges of the door releasing an unearthly shriek as she opens it just enough for her to slide through. A tiny bit of aura protects her feet like sandals. Past the buildings and through the courtyard, she follows him to the cliffside overlooking the lake below.

There he stops. One more step is all that stands between him and open air.

' _He isn't going to-!'_

And with one last step, he disappears from her sight. Her eyes widen. Her body moves before she even has the time to process what she just saw, Ruby rushing across the walkway in a flurry of rose petals.

Then, a yell reaches her ears.

" _ **TAIJUU KAGE BUNSHIN!"**_

' _Mass Shadow Clone…?'_

Her brain just has the time to register that she is actually able to translate the name of the ninjutsu into the common tongue of Remnant. What it doesn't have the time to process is the form of the white-haired boy leaping back onto the cliff side, looking up just in time to see a red missile flying straight at him.

"Red?"

"Look ooout!-"

…

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(V)

Chapter 10: Bedtime Story

* * *

"I'm really, really, _really_ sorry…"

"Next time, I'm not catching you."

He did. Maybe he shouldn't have. He kind of wishes he didn't. But if he had just stepped out of the way, it would have weighed on his conscious if the girl got lost out at sea and was eaten by a giant turtle grimm or something. So, he'd decided to just take the hit, confident he'd be able to get them both back to the cliff without much trouble.

He underestimated just how much momentum the girl built up with that semblance of hers.

It's impressive, it really is. He hadn't paid too much attention to it when they first fought, but it looks like there may be a little more to her semblance than just super speed. Alas, his potential interest in her semblance is dulled by the fact that, who knows how far away, the massive clocked tower of Beacon is just that.

A faint beacon, far in the distance.

Walking atop the waves with the cause of his current predicament, _both_ of his current predicaments, clinging to his back, Naruto reaffirms his determination to stay as far away from the silver-eyed girl as physically possible.

"I, uh, wasn't really following you!" the adorable pain in his ass says. "It's just, I was having trouble sleeping and I saw you leave the ballroom and thought, 'hey, maybe it's not a bad idea to get some fresh air!', so I decided to go out too! But I, erm, still didn't really have any idea where I was going, so I ended up… kind of… following you."

What is wrong with this girl?

Is this really the same person he fought that night in Vale? The person who carved out his right eye?

Then again, considering her choice in underwear, he supposes it really shouldn't be that much of a surprise…

"And when I saw you walk off the ledge, I guess I kind of panicked a bit," she admits in a small voice. "So I, uh… yeah."

"Question. I'm guessing when you saw me fall, your plan was to dive off the ledge after me?"

"That was the plan…"

"How exactly were you planning on not overshooting and just flying off the ledge?"

"I… didn't really think that far ahead."

"Apparently," he sighs. "You're lucky I can just walk us back like this."

"Hehe, thanks." Ruby gives him a sheepish chuckle. "It's pretty cool you already know how to walk on water! That's some amazing aura control. Yang can only walk up walls and I can't even do that yet."

"It's not really that hard," Naruto says with a slight shrug. "Once you practice a bit, it becomes second nature pretty easily. How'd tit-zilla practice? Just on trees?"

"Dad said it was too expensive paying to fix the wall every time…"

"Because it'd explode and send her flying off?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

Naruto smiles.

"Everyone's aura is special and unique in its own way. A semblance is just the crystallization of that aura. It's a… reflection. A mirror of one's soul. And whether it's walking on walls or making clones or bursting into rose petals, whenever you use aura to do something, that reflection will always have an influence over whatever it is you're doing."

"Err…"

The confusion is all too obvious in tiny noise that comes from behind him. Of course, it doesn't really surprise him. The older sister may have understood him, but the Kingdoms have always been known to forgo basic aura theory in favor of the advantages offered by their advanced technologies.

"Basically, your semblance influences anything you do with your aura," Naruto allows himself a slight grin. "For your sister, maybe those walls were just giving her a taste of her own medicine."

Ruby giggles. Snorts. Covers her mouth and tries to hold in her laughter. It takes a moment for her to get over it. Afterwards, she tilts her head and perks up. "Huh. You know, whenever I kill a grimm they do always disappear into rose petals…"

"Is that so?" Naruto perks a brow, filing that bit of information away for later.

"Yeah, but… I don't know. I never really paid much attention to it." She admits. "Hey, so what's yours?!"

"Hm?"

"What's your semblance?" she asks with an excitable innocence.

"My semblance is…"

"Is…?"

"… is a secret!"

He's always wanted to try that line on someone. Ever since another certain, white-haired cyclops did the same thing to him in his youth.

Huh. Maybe he really is turning into Kakashi.

Well, as long as he stays away from the porn, he should be okay...

"Oh, come ooon~!" Ruby whines, grabbing and shaking his shoulders. "You've already seen mine, why can't you show me yours!"

"Do I get to launch you off a cliff too?"

"I said I was sorry…"

"It's nothing really interesting anyway. Don't think too much about it."

"Can't you at least tell me?"

"Nope."

"Why not?!"

"Sorry, I just don't know you that well. I'm not the kind of easy guy who'll just go around telling people about his semblance, willy-nilly. For the record, it's not very polite to ask people that, you know? It might be different in the Kingdoms but for us from the Elemental Nations, our semblances are seen as the truest piece of our personality. Who we are deep down inside, underneath the underneath. That's not really the sort of thing you ask someone you just met."

"R-really?"

"Nope. Literally just made all of that up."

A small chuckle escapes him as the girl irritably kicks her feet, wrapping her arms around his neck in a half-hearted attempt to choke him.

"Fine! I don't care about your stupid semblance anyway!"

"Is that right?"

"Yeah!"

"…"

"…"

"… is it teleportation?"

"You really think I'd be walking us back if I could just teleport?"

"Hmm~… regeneration?"

"Guess again."

"Super strength?"

"No."

"Speed?"

"That's yours."

"Clones?"

"Nope."

"At least give me a hint…"

"Alright." A smirk. "You've already seen me use it."

"Really?!"

"Mhm."

"When?! What was it?!"

"You're going to have to figure that out for yourself."

The waters churn and splash around them, his own steps almost silent against the waves. Beacon's clock tower remains a faint spot of light in the distance. It was a combination of both Ruby's speed and the steep drop from the cliffside that resulted in the sheer length with which they were thrown. Maybe he could have been able to shorten the distance with some wind manipulation, but alas, the initial hit had stunned him too long for him to react beyond stopping them from both falling into the sea and getting soaked.

Time passes. The tension drains from her form and, eventually, the socially-challenged girl allows herself to slump against his back, dangling her arms over his shoulders.

"Ugh… this is taking so long…"

His eye twitches. "And whose fault is it that we're in this situation again?"

Sure, he could probably get them back in like five minutes if he really tried but…

Well, it put it simply, it's late and he is feeling tired and lazy. He's already made his clones and they should have gotten to work by now. So, even if she hadn't sent them flying off the cliffside, he'd have probably just spent the time bumbling about.

"Sorry~…" she mumbles again. "Mmm… you're really warm… I'm getting kind of sleepy…"

"If you drool on me, I'm dropping you."

"Meanie…"

With that, she falls silent and his mind drifts to his current situation.

It is a good deal for him, the arrangements Ozpin made. More than good. The headmaster more or less went out of his way to give him every reason to go. Free food, free lodgings and a paying job. The money paying for him to be here comes from a scholarship for the 'gifted' and he is even going to be given a stipend for his academic performance and other 'services' rendered to the school.

In other words, Ozpin is going to be his contractor for the next four years. And Naruto will be reaping all of the protection and benefits that come with being associated a man of his renown.

Of course, it does come at the price of having to actually _attend_ school for the next four years and subjecting himself to whatever schemes the headmaster may cook up to try and 'redeem' him. Whatever it takes to ensure his loyalty. Whatever it takes to secure his power. After all, someone doesn't earn a title like 'The Great and Terrible' by acting like a fantasy schoolteacher straight out of a manga.

Honestly, if wolfie hadn't flubbed her introduction so hard, he may have suspected the man of orchestrating the events of that night.

And speaking of which…

She is the only loose thread in all of this. The girl resting placidly on his back.

For the life of him, he can't understand why all of her alarm bells aren't going off at the sight of him. Sure, the fact that he doesn't exactly cut the most imposing of figures on his own _is_ part of the reason he still wears that mask in the first place. Just a small part. But shouldn't some part of her still recognize him as a threat? Like when he returned her weapon to her.

Shouldn't she be at least a little bit suspicious of him?

There is no way Weiss will recognize him as he is now. And Junior was the one who pushed him to come to Beacon in the first place, so he doubts the information broker will do anything to compromise his standing like telling Yang about him.

Which means the only person who has the potential to figure out his identity is her.

The scar over his eye. His clones. The Rasengan. Even his fighting style and the way him releasing his aura kind of sort of has him _bursting into flames_. It would be all too easy for him to slip up and accidentally reveal his identity as the Demon Fox to her.

And, at this very moment, it would be even easier to remove that possibility in its entirety.

Sabotage. Seals. Plain old murder. Methods to ensure the girl never finds out who he is all stream through his mind, each of them followed by a growing pang of guilt.

' _What the hell…'_ Naruto thinks to himself. He muffles a sigh.

What does he care about the girl figuring out who he is?

Because Ozpin will be upset? Because the witch will get angry? Why the hell does he care?

Fuck those assholes. He'll tell her himself!

Maybe… someday… possibly… probably…

'… _Ugh.'_

His own words to the cat faunus he met earlier echo back to him.

' _I know I said all of those things but this and that aren't really the same thing… kind of a bit of a difference between cute cat ears and being an S-rank criminal in the Bingo Book… hm. I'm still S-rank, aren't I? They haven't dropped me down to A-rank…?'_

Sure, it isn't exactly pleasant being in the Bingo Book, what with the whole everyone-trying-to-kill-you thing, but if he's going to be in the Bingo Book, he may as well be in the Bingo Book as an S-rank, right. After all, no one cares about anyone in the other ranks. The A and B ranks may as well stand for A-ctually not that important and B-ascially not worth remembering.

' _If I remember correctly, I think I may have saw Goodwitch's name under the B-section of the hunter category… that's kind of weird, isn't it? In terms of raw power, I would think she'd at least be an A-rank… whatever. Either way, I'm totally bugging her about that later...'_

As Naruto chuckles to himself, a small voice comes from behind him.

"Naruto?"

"You're still awake?"

"Mhm…" a half-asleep mumble comes from the face or more less buried in his shoulder. "I'm sorry about… just… all of this. Today… today hasn't really been the best, first day of school ever."

He perks a brow. "Why's that?"

From how happy she was when he gave the sniper-scythe back to her, he figured she'd be riding that high for the rest of the week at least.

"Well, you know… like when I accidentally pushed you on top of Weiss… and when I said those things about your whiskers…"

"And when you exploded."

"Yeah…" she sighs.

He can feel the girl deflate on his back. She is surprisingly light. Light enough that the compact form of the sniper-scythe under his arm is almost heavier. It is obvious enough that _something_ has put a dent in the pure-eyed determination that led the girl to challenge him that night. The only question is what.

… He's getting too close.

For the sake of maintaining the lie, he should stay silent. Pretend he never noticed the waver in her voice, or even that he did notice but doesn't care. Apathy will only breed distance. And the more distance he puts between himself and the girl on his back, the better.

And yet-

"So… trouble sleeping?"

' _Just this once.'_ he tells himself.

Once they get sectioned off into teams, he'll do his best to steer clear of the silver-eyed girl.

"A bit. You too?"

"Not really. I've got a lot of aura so I don't really need to sleep that much. Staying up all night doesn't put too much stress on me." Physical stress, at least. "Besides, I already got some sleep earlier… you know. Before Sneeze decided to pet me."

"She _pet_ you? Is that what she was so embarrassed about?"

"Guess so. I got here, talked to Ozpin and decided to take a nap while I waited for the rest of the students to get here. Then, I wake up feeling like someone's rubbing ice against my cheeks."

Ruby chuckles. "Are her fingers really that cold?"

"Yup. And after that… I almost got into a fight. Then I did get into a fight. With your sister. I won, by the way."

"You two actually fought…" Ruby says, sounding not at all surprised. Then, her eyebrows go up. "Wait, Yang lost?!"

"Mhm. For the record, the only reason _I'm_ the one who ended up being carried away is because I yanked off a strand of her hair to rile her up so I could see her semblance. Since she was still pissed even _after_ I healed her, I gave her a free shot so she wouldn't hold a grudge… you can guess where she decided to aim."

"Oof." Ruby perks up. "Oh! Is your semblance healing?"

"Nope."

"Then how'd you heal Yang?"

"That's a bit complicated to explain… hm… you remember how I said a person's semblance is like a physical projection of their aura?"

"Yes."

"You know what Elemental Affinities are?"

"No."

"You ever play Pokemon?"

"Yeah!"

"The idea is a lot like the type system," Naruto explains. "Simply put, people have a natural 'type' and each of those types are strong to one and weak to another. The five basic ones are Wind, Fire, Water, Earth and Lightning. Each is weak to the one after and strong against the one before."

"So, it's like the type advantages…?" Ruby says to herself. "Wait… so rock is strong against water? And weak to lightning? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around."

"Well, if you really want to get into the details, most water based techniques tend to sacrifice raw power for speed, power and fluidity. But since earth typically involves creating powerful but immobile bases, water techniques can't match up in terms of sheer concussive force. On the other hand, the nature of most lightning techniques gives them unparalleled piercing power, so they can tunnel straight through earth attacks.

"Uh…"

"Too much?"

"My head hurts…"

Naruto smirks. "Anyway, the basic idea is that everyone has a type. Almost everyone. There are some special cases, but you can typically tell from their semblance."

"So Yang's type would be… fire, right?"

"That's right. My natural affinity is wind, and fire devours wind to grow stronger. Usually people can't just transfer aura like that, but because of our natural affinities and my own aura being a bit different than most people's, it was pretty easy for me to just give her some of my aura with a little bit of set up. I have a pretty strong healing factor, so she got that too when I gave some of it to her."

"Ooh, ooh, what do you think my type is?!"

Naruto tilts his head. Presses his lips together in thought.

"Hmm… the rose petals make me think some kind of earth and water hybrid, but that seems more like its just an after-effect of your aura. Your semblance itself doesn't really seem to have any of the attributes associated with earth or water either… those tend to be more structure based. I don't think it's fire or lightning either, since both of those typically revolve around the release, store and transformation of energy…"

"So that's earth, water, fire and lightning…" Ruby ticks each of the elements off on her fingers. "So that means…"

"It's just a guess, but I'd say you're probably wind. The same as me."

How ironic.

"Wind?"

"In the end, they're just names," Naruto shrugs. "People associating what's going on with their semblance with the world around them. Wind is the movement of air particles from high to low pressure. A shift between to points. Change. Connection. Movement. So, people started associated it with that."

"Then… you have a movement-based semblance!"

"Nope."

"Aw…"

"Though…" Naruto tilts his head in thought. "I guess I could use it for movement if I wanted to…"

He should probably look into that.

"So, we're both wind, too…" Ruby says under her breath, a small smile over her lips.

"It's just a guess," Naruto repeats. "A pure wind element is pretty rare. Its hybrid forms are way more common."

"But wind's supposed to lose to fire, right? You must be really strong if you still beat Yang."

"Fighting's not really that simple… a type advantage isn't everything. Besides, it's not like wind is my only element. It's just my natural affinity. People can still use more than one element, just like they can use a bunch of different types of dust."

"Which ones can you use?"

"Hold onto me for a sec."

He knows he shouldn't show off _too_ much, but a little demonstration couldn't hurt.

Naruto holds up his right hand. Wind gathers into a sphere in his palm. He tosses it forward.

Wind ignites into a starburst of flame. Water surges up, swallowing the flames. The water solidifies, becoming stone. And the stone explodes into a shower of sparks.

"Wow…"

"You should see what I can do when I actually get my hands on some dust," Naruto smirks, unable to hide the pride in his voice. He'd spent _way_ too long getting that trick down.

"So, what's wrong?"

"Eh?" Ruby makes a noise of surprise at the seemingly random question.

"You said you were having trouble sleeping, right?" Naruto says. "Something bugging you?"

"Ah! No, it's nothing! Really, it's nothing… it's just…"

She trails off. Pauses. Her grip on his shoulders tighten.

"And I… I mean, I know this is going to sound really weird, but… but I want you to be honest with me, okay?"

"Sure," Naruto says, on the outside a complete picture of nonchalance.

On the inside-

' _Oh crap-crap-crap-crap, damnit I knew that was too much! Agh! That's right, she saw me using fire, lightning and earth while I was fighting the witch, too! Ahhhh! I was too excited to show off that elemental conversion trick and just did all of that without thinking! I knew everything was going way too well! Ahhhhh-!"_

"Do you think I deserve to be at Beacon?"

Naruto stops. Blinks. Looks back at the girl unabl1e to meet his eyes.

"What are you talking about? Aren't you the girl who fought the Demon Fox?"

He may have walked all over her, aside from when she sliced out his eye, but that is only to be expected. If anything, that night is probably why Ozpin accepted her into his school. There are few people with the courage to fight against an opponent they know they should have no chance of winning against, all for the sake of someone weaker than them. Thinking about it that way, it's no wonder she ended up here at Beacon after that night.

Not like him. Not like a living weapon whose only worth is in his power.

"That's just it!" she says in a miserable voice. "He didn't fight me! He just… kicked me around, peeked at my panties and stole Crescent Rose… and apparently, that was enough to get me into Beacon!"

Ruby lets out a heavy sigh. "They moved me up two years and I didn't even do anything…"

Naruto presses his lips into a flat line. Looks away. "… Well, you shouldn't compare yourself to a monster like him. That guy isn't human. You should be proud for even standing up to someone like that. Besides, didn't you even cut out his eye?"

"Yeah… I did."

He can't tell from the tone of her voice whether she feels guilty she cut out his eye, or if she feels guilty she only cut out his eye.

"And earlier…" she lets out a heavy sigh. "Earlier I exploded Weiss and almost blew us both off the cliff, and now because of me we're here and I can't even walk on my own two feet so I have to just sit here and wait for you to carry me back to the cliff!"

"Then don't."

"… I'm sorrYIEEE-?!"

With a splash, she disappears under the waves.

Naruto walks a few steps. He takes the sniper-scythe out from under his arm. Unfolds it and gives it a few twirls as he waits. Soon enough, a head of dark hair pokes up out of the waves, spitting out a mouthful of water.

"Naruto! What was that for?!"

"Sorry. A bit tired. Hand slipped. You're kind of heavy, you know."

"Ugh," Ruby pushes a wet bang out of her face and hugs herself with a combination of "Not heavy" and "It's cold…"

"You should probably get out of there," Naruto says as if he isn't the one responsible. "It'll be bad if you get sick and can't go to the initiation tomorrow."

"Well, can you lift me up? Maybe we can-"

"No way, I don't want to get wet."

"O-oh," her expression falls for only an instant. In the next, she tries to plaster on a smile. "I'm sure it's not that much father back to Beacon, right? I can just swim the rest of the way…"

"Or you can just walk."

"Walk."

Naruto nods, idly twirling the sniper-scythe at his side. "Yeah, just walk. It's not that hard. I imagine it'd probably be easier than just swimming the whole way."

"But-!" she looks at him as if he had grown a second head. "But I don't even know how do to the tree climbing exercise! It took Yang a week just to learn how to do that! How am I supposed to learn to walk on water right now? I may as well just try to swim back!"

"I don't know. Current's pretty strong. Seems to me like you're going to just have to walk."

"I don't know how to!"

"Well for starters, just try pushing aura to your feet."

"My… feet?"

Naruto nods again, resting the sniper-scythe on his shoulder. "Mhm. Just imagine like something's about to stab you in the foot. From below you. Like you're about to step on a hedgehog grimm, or a spike or a Lego or something."

She looks to him in confusion before her eyes light up in understanding.

Ruby closes her eyes in concentration, mumbling to herself, "Hedgehog… hedgehog…"

It is only for a moment. Silver eyes snap open in excitement as her shoulders rise up out of the water, only for a moment, before she sinks again.

"It felt like I was standing on something for a second!"

"Aura naturally gathers around your brain and internal organs," Naruto begins to explain, holding up a finger. "They're the most important and vulnerable parts of the body. Your feet are the furthest from these places, so naturally it's the hardest part of your body to channel aura towards."

"For tree climbing, the biggest hurdle is just sending the aura to your feet. It's easy enough to learn how to defend. Aura's like any other part of the body. You clench up before you get hit. It's a natural reaction. On the other hand, people aren't used to keeping a steady stream of aura flowing to some part of their body, but it's easy enough once you get a feel for it."

Ruby pops out of the water again, this time rising just a bit higher before she sinks again.

"It's more important to keep a constant flow. The first example was just so you could get a sense of what it feels like to push aura to your feet. Now you need to focus on maintaining a constant stream. You can start by make a ton of really small pushes. Once it feels like you can keep your head above water without kicking your feet, then that's probably good enough to move onto the next step."

"I'd say it's kind of like…" Naruto pauses a moment to consider his word choice. "It kind of feels like taking a piss through your feet."

He steps out of the way as Ruby accidentally swallows a mouthful of seawater, spitting it out in a spread in front of her.

"Can't you think of any other way to put it?!"

"Not really. Try to center the stream on your heels."

"Ew… okay, now what?"

Naruto perks a brow. That was fast.

Well, whatever.

He stomps his foot on the water, sending his aura into the waves. Ruby lurches, flailing her arms to steady herself as she rises upward until her legs are only submerged above the knees. He grabs her hand to steady her.

"Now, walk."

Soaking wet, Ruby looks from his hand, to him, to her feet and back to him. "H-hey, what are you doing?"

"Being your training wheels." He deadpans. "You won't sink any lower than this. Now come on. I'd like to get back to Beacon eventually."

Ruby nods. Naruto begins to walk backwards. She stumbles after him, her feet sinking like stones water.

"Ah, wait! Hold on, you're going too fast!"

"You're thinking too hard," Naruto cracks a tiny smirk. "Stop watching your own feet. Just follow me. Watch my steps. Quit thinking about what happens if you screw up. I'll catch you when you fall."

"R-right!"

Naruto never lets up. The only effort he makes to slow down is walking backwards instead of forwards. His steps meet the water with a soft ripple, her steps smashing through the waves like an Ursa in a china shop. Even so, Ruby just barely manages to keep pace with him.

The splashes grow smaller. Slowly she begins to rise. First her knees. Then her ankles. Naruto slips his hand out from hers, Ruby not even noticing as she moves past him, her eyes clamped shut. Finally her foot meets the waves with a delicate ripple, pure joy blossoming over her face.

"Naruto! Naruto, I'm doing it! I did it, I did it!" Ruby whirls around, almost falling back through the waves as she runs back to him, jumping on the water as if it were solid ground.

Naruto closes his eyes with a small scoff and an even smaller smile. "I told you earlier, didn't I? You'll be fine."

He doesn't see her reaction. But he thinks he hears a tiny 'thank you.' Maybe.

Now then…

Naruto places the sniper-scythe under his arm, bringing his hands together. A towel appears in a poof of smoke. He tosses it to her.

"Here. You might want to cover up."

"Ah, thanks!" Ruby says, using it to dry her hair.

Naruto opens his eyes. He perks a brow.

"Oi. Hey. Polka dots. That's not why I gave you that."

"Polka… dots?" Ruby blinks, hanging the towel around her neck. She looks down. Down at her pajamas. Her pajamas, made of a rather thin material. A thin material, that when soaked, clings to the body and leaves very little to the imagination.

"… No bra?" Naruto muses, looking with no shame whatsoever.

Her pale skin turns a very lovely shade of red. She begins to sink back into the water.

"Well, it's not like you need one anyway… even if you're sisters, I suppose the rate of growth is different for everyone. H-hey, what are you doing! Don't come so close when you're still soaking wet like that! Hey! Quit it! Stop, St-aahhh!"

…

* * *

"I really hope this whole hugging thing isn't going to be a habit with you."

Tugging at the water stains on his shirt, Naruto follows behind the pouting Ruby, the towel wrapped protectively around her body.

"Uuu… I can't believe you saw them…"

"Your boobs or your panties? I mean, I could kind of see them the whole time, I just didn't want to say anything 'cause I figured you'd be too embarrassed to keep going."

"You are _not_ helping!"

"Not trying to help."

Ruby huffs, pulling the towel tighter around her. It's lucky she forgot to bring her scroll. Crescent Rose rests in her arms, hugged protectively against her chest. She glances down at her feet, her footsteps making soft ripples in the waves. She smiles.

"… normal knees…"

"Hm? What was that?" Naruto perks a brow, walking faster to catch up to her.

"Ah, it's nothing," Ruby says. She glances down at her feet. "This really is a lot easier than I thought it'd be!"

"You did pick it up pretty quickly. A lot faster than I thought you would."

"Really?"

A nod. "Typically the more aura you have, the harder it is to control. Kind of like swinging around a big, heavy weapon."

He taps the still-unfolded sniper-scythe.

"Conversely, the less aura you have, the easier it is to control… but your aura never shorted out. And it didn't feel like you were very conservative with how much aura you were using either. Which means the reason you got the hang of water-walking so quick probably isn't because you have a particularly small supply of aura. Seems like you're just a natural."

"Oh, stop it you!"

Naruto looks to the blushing, squirming girl with a dry gaze. He perks a brow. "I'm surprised you apparently had such trouble with the tree walking exercise."

"The way you explained it really helped!" Ruby says. "Whenever Uncle Qrow tried to teach it to me he'd just tell me to 'use aura to stick to the tree' and I'd just kind of fall off and hit my head for a bit before we decided to do something else."

"That explains a lot." He says. Then, a blink. "Uncle… Qrow? As in Qrow Branwen?"

"Oh yeah! He's the one who taught me how to fight! I was total garbage before he took me under his wing. But now I'm all like hiyaaa! Wuhooo!- Naruto?"

Ruby stops in her 'vaguely karate looking arm movements' to look back at her friend, the white-haired boy stopped a short distance back, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Naruto?"

"Hm?" He blinks again. "Oh sorry. I was just thinking."

"About what."

"Well," Naruto tilts his head. "You ever have one of those days where you think everything is going well and then it just goes from a hundred to, like, negative nine billion in 5 seconds?"

Ruby lets out a small chuckle. "I know what you mean… even if that's not really how the expression goes."

They both let out a sigh, continuing their trek back to Beacon.

"… Do you hear that?" Ruby asks, tilting her head.

Over the rush of the waves and the drip-dropping of their steps, she hears a faint noise in the distance. A voice. A great many voices, or rather a great many instances of the same voice, all yelling and shouting and arguing with each other in the distance.

"… My clones." Naruto confirms. "We're almost there."

"Clones? How many did you make?"

"… Not that many. Come on."

The two of them approach the pier. Ruby stops. She stares, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open.

"Not that many?" she repeats, her voice strangely high-pitched.

"Not that many."

They are separated into groups, with each group composed of maybe ten or twenty clones, each clone an identical copy of the white-haired boy down to his whisker marks and vaguely annoyed expression. A small army of Narutos stand atop the waters. Ruby hadn't even seen this many people gathered in the main hall for Professor Ozpin's speech.

One group appears to be engaged in an all-out brawl, one of the Narutos falling as a punch catches him on the jaw, dispelling into a cloud of smoke.

Lightning sparks along the palms of another group, the clones balancing a web of electricity between them.

Water swirls around the feet of another. Spears and arrows, dragons and sharks, the waves form into all sorts of fantastical shapes, leaping into the air before returning to the formless ocean.

Fire crashes into the waves, a wall of steam rising into the air as a third group breaths a stream of flame into the water.

"What are they doing?" Ruby asks in wonder.

"Practicing." Naruto says simply. "Whenever one of my clones dispel, I receive all of its memories and experiences. With two clones I can learn something twice as fast. With four, I can learn it four times as fast. Of course, I also get the accumulated fatigue and exhaustion, so I can't go overboard with it…"

He shrugs. "Well, too overboard, anyway."

Sheer repetition. To the point it becomes second nature. After all, even someone who is terrible at math could learn their multiplication tables if they were to write it a hundred times over. For a moment, Ruby stares in awe at the sight before her.

Then a shout breaks her out of her daze.

"Oi, you fucking assholes!" Naruto roars, approaching the groups of clones, shaking his fist. The groups of clones all stop whatever they were doing to turn to their creator. "Why didn't any of you catch us?! Or more importantly, _me_?!"

"Hey!" Ruby cries in protest.

The clones only need a moment to look to one another and reach a consensus.

" **Because you're a fucking asshole."** They chorus as one.

Ruby chuckles. Naruto's eye twitches. Without much trouble they ascend the stairs back to the cliff side of Beacon.

"So you think you can get to sleep now?" Naruto asks as they walk into the courtyard.

"No!" Ruby whines. "Not after you dunked me in freezing cold water! How am I supposed to get to sleep now?!"

"What. You want me to tell you a bedtime story?"

"Sure!" she perks up. "Yang would always read to me before bed. Maybe it'll help me fall asleep?"

Ruby vanishes into a flurry of rose petals, reappearing on one of the benches. She pats the spot next to her.

"… I was being sarcastic."

"Aw…"

"But, if it gets you out of my hair faster…"

"Yay!"

Naruto shrugs. He takes the seat. "What kind of story do you want to hear?"

"I dunno. You're not from the Kingdom's right?"

"Nope."

"Well, what kind of stories do they have where you're from?"

"Mmm…" his gaze drifts upwards, upwards to the orb of light in the night sky. "There's one about why the moon goes through its phases, breaking apart and putting itself back together, over and over again."

"Ooh, what's it called?"

"The Tale of the Sage of Six Paths. I remember… someone… telling it to me when I was a kid. Want to hear that one?"

Ruby nods. Naruto sighs, leaning back.

"Okay… let's see. I think it goes… a long time ago, back when Remnant was still just one landmass, before the Kingdoms and before the Elemental Nations, there was a grimm…"

* * *

 _ **It was a great and terrible grimm, with ten tails, one ear and one eye. Its footsteps became lakes. Its breath became storms. With a single swipe of its tails, the lands would shake and tremble like a frightened child. With its approach, the grimm in the surrounding area would swarm and descend like a plague of mice.**_

 _ **It appeared one day without warning. No man could hope to fight it, let alone hope defeat it. It was thought to be a natural disaster given form. Some believed it to be the original grimm, from which all others spawned. A One-Eyed God of Darkness. Others believed it was merely one grimm who was more clever than the rest, having bided its time since the very beginning of the eternal war between mankind and the beasts of Grimm.**_

 _ **Whatever it was, its true nature didn't really matter. All that mattered was that it was here. And whatever it was, it had emerged to put an end to the war once and for all.**_

 _ **Dust could do nothing to the beast. Weapons were meaningless. In the span of five days, it pushed mankind to the brink of extinction. It was humanity's darkest hour. At last, it seemed the beasts of Grimm would snuff out the spark of humanity, once and for all.**_

 _ **Yet, where there is shadow, there must also be light. And on the dawn of the sixth day, a light appeared to push back the darkness.**_

 _ **His name is lost to time. But we know him today as The Sage of the Six Paths.**_

 _ **Why six?**_

 _ **Some say, that prior to the arrival of the One-Eyed God, he had never fought a day in his life. It was not because he was scared. Or cowardly. Or weak. But because he loved. His was an honest soul, and he had no desire for violence. The six days allowed to the One-Eyed God to rampage were the six days required to ready him to battle the beast.**_

 _ **Some say he was the very first to stand against the One-Eyed God and the very first to be struck down. The six days were the six days required for his spirit to journey back to his body from the underworld. And through that journey, he had achieved enlightenment and gained a power to rival the dark god's.**_

 _ **Some say, he just liked the number six.**_

 _ **Regardless of the reason, on the dawn of the sixth day, the Sage of Six Paths rose to challenge the One-Eyed God. Gifted with three blessings from the God of Light, a sword of storms, a shield of light and an amulet of fire, the Sage fought the One-Eyed God.**_

 _ **Their battle lasted three days and three nights. The land itself was torn asunder. Split into seven fragments. Drawing upon every inch of dust in the land, the Sage continued to battle the One-Eyed God. But soon, he realized even he could not defeat the beast. Its might was boundless. Its fury endless. The beast would grow ever stronger. And his power would only dwindle with time.**_

 _ **Yet the Sage did not despair. For he believed one day, another would rise to take up his sword and slay the beast. But until that day came, he would serve as the beast's jailer.**_

 _ **And so, on the dawn of the tenth day, the Sage of Six Paths sealed the One-Eyed God inside his body. Waiting for the day, another would rise to challenge the beast.**_

 _ **A grimm will die and fade away if imprisoned. That much the Sage knew. And in his heart, he held a faint hope that someday the beast would fall into an eternal slumber.**_

 _ **But it never did.**_

 _ **The Sage spread his teachings far and wide, hoping one day, another light would rise to challenge the darkness.**_

 _ **But it never did. And so, the beast fed on the spark of doubt that took root in the Sage's heart…**_

…

 _ **But… someone did, eventually, right?**_

 _ **Nope. The Sage grew old and died. The last thing he did was seal his soul and the ten-tailed beast into the moon. When the moon starts to break apart, they say the Sage is losing and the ten-tails is escaping its prison. When it goes back together, that's the Sage getting his second wind.  
**_

* * *

"Wha… But… That's…! That's not how a bedtime story is supposed to end!"

Naruto perks a brow at Ruby, the silver-eyed girl already looking just about ready to pass out.

Good. The only reason he choose to tell it is _because_ it was so long and boring that he figured she'd be passed out by the end of it.

On one hand, she's still awake. On the other, at least he doesn't have to tell the end of that crappy story.

"Bedtime stories are supposed to have happy endings!"

"Humanity doesn't get eradicated. I'd say that's a pretty happy ending."

"But-! But-!" she lets out a great sigh. "Do you have any other stories you can tell me?"

"Well, do you want to hear about the Sage's sons?"

"… Does it have a happy ending?"

"Not really. Long story short, the younger brother gets pissed at the older brother, they murder each other and their descendants still hate each other to this day."

"Don't you know any stories that _don't_ end with, 'and then everyone died and suffered for the rest of eternity!'?!"

Naruto tilts his head. He takes a moment to think. "… Huh. They do kind of all end that way, don't they?"

"Uuuugh!" Ruby tries to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She fails. "Can't we just say the Sage killed the monster and he had two sons who loved each other and played nice and got along and everyone lived happily ever after, the end?!"

"No. Bad end is canon end."

"I don't care!" she huffs like a petulant child. Even more of a petulant child. "I'm changing it!"

Naruto's brow twitches. He rolls his eyes. "Fine, whatever. Can you go to sleep now?"

"No!" she grabs his arm, as though wanting to make sure he won't run away. "I'm not letting you leave until I show you how a good bedtime story is supposed to end! Let's see… ah, what was one of the ones I always liked? Ah! The Four Maidens! So, it goes like, once upon a time, deep in the forests of Remnant, beside a great and mighty river-"

Ruby manages to get to the introduction of Spring before the drool begins to drip onto his shoulder.

"… way too comfortable." Naruto grumbles under his breath at the sleeping girl.

Well, whatever. This just makes things easier for him.

He might have felt a bit guilty in his part in eviscerating the girl's confidence, both as 'Naruto' and the 'Demon Fox'. After all, that is why he decided to teach her the water walking exercise. But that doesn't mean he'll just play nice forever.

Even he isn't so soft as to let an opportunity like this slip through his fingers.

His brush and ink bottle appear in a gentle puff of smoke. She doesn't stir as he dips the brush in the ink, nor does she wake as the brush flitters over her face. His work finished, Naruto seals the brush and ink away, picking the sleeping girl up and returning her to her bedding in the ballroom.

When he steps back outside, a cold voice welcomes him.

"Uzumaki."

"Hag."

Arms crossed with the faintest traces of a scowl on her lips, Glynda Goodwitch waits for him in the courtyard. Naruto shoves his hands into his pockets, his face smoothing into a frown.

"So, to what do I owe this unpleasant not-really-a-surprise," Naruto drawls. "Thought you guys said I could do whatever as long as I kept my identity a secret."

No mask. No tails. Those were the only warnings Ozpin had left him with when he met the headmaster earlier in the day.

"Professor Ozpin has asked me to inform you that we will be deciding partners with tomorrow's initiation."

"I figured. Is that it?"

"He has also _suggested,_ that you make an effort to partner yourself with Ruby Rose."

"Oh?" He perks a brow. "I thought he wanted me to keep my presence here a secret. Kind of hard to do that when you want me to shackle myself to _literally_ the one person most likely to figure out who I am."

"The matter of Ruby Rose will be left to your discretion."

"That so, huh?" Naruto scoffs. His mismatched blues narrow into the slightest of glares. "I don't know what you guys have planned for tomorrow, but if you think I'm going to _voluntarily_ shackle myself to any one of these stooges, I'm going to have to very politely tell you to shove it up _your_ ass. Then again, I'm not too sure if you'd be able to make it fit, what with that massive stick and Ozpin's hand already so far up there."

Hostility chills the air between them. The older woman's expression grows tight, tight like a bowstring drawn to its utmost limits. Naruto allows a smirk to make its way across his lips.

"If you choose not to heed his words, then you _will_ suffer the consequences," she warns.

"What? You going to try to kill me _, again_?"

It grows thicker. Tension, silent potential, like a lit match held inches away from a barrel of gunpowder. The white-haired boy is almost a good foot shorter than her, and yet her eyes are not that of an adult looking at a child. They are eyes he is well familiar with. Eyes that have always haunted him since birth. The kind of eyes that look at him and see something else, eyes laced with fear and anger and hate, all hidden behind a thin veil of civility.

Naruto breaks the silence with a chuckle. He begins to walk past her.

"Don't worry," he says. "I'll play your game. I've already agreed too, after all. And even if it's just that of a pawn, I'll play my part. Just don't expect me to be asking 'how high' whenever you say 'jump'."

For a moment, their conversation appears to end there. The huntress says nothing, only following him with her eyes, attempting to glare a hole through the back of his skull.

Then-

"Wait."

Her voice stops him. Naruto throws a lazy glance back over his shoulder.

"Mm?"

"That night in Vale," she says, her tone clipped and harsh. "The attack your clone used to break through my barrier."

A slight pause. "What was it?"

That's right. She probably didn't get a very good view of it, considering the clone had more or less blitzed from behind. And all things considered, the smart thing to do in this situation would be to very politely tell her to fuck off. It's what will probably cause him less headache in the future. It's what would be in his best interests.

Yet, their short exchange prior to him unleashing his third tail sticks in his mind like a thorn. Of the reverence and respect in her voice when she spoke of the Fourth Hokage. Of the self-righteous anger with which she had denounced his name. Of the bitterness and spite that had led him to using the third tail.

And like a child petulantly throwing a tantrum, he raises his right arm, fingers clenched into a fist, palm facing upward.

Light pierces the shadow. Spiraling winds disperse the silence. His fingers come open, and a sphere of shining gold whirls to life, hovering just above his palm, a low pitched humming filling the air.

It is the size of a grapefruit, the orb of vibrating light. For a second he says nothing, does nothing, only holding the technique in his hand.

Then, his fingers close back into a fist. The light vanishes. And without another word, the white-haired boy vanishes into a flutter of golden flame.

* * *

 **AN: Chapters 6-9 should be updated now, complete with various grammar corrections pointed out to me by Fuyuriki. As for thoughts about this chapter… I DO feel like I could have cut it out, but there are various things in this chapter that I wanted to keep along with hopefully making Ruby's character arc seem a bit smoother. In the end, I decided to keep it. Apologizes for the late release, I had some family stuff to deal with over this weekend.**

 **For this chapter:**

 **-Ruby. Characterization? Is it understandable where the angst comes from? Is it an appropriate level of angst?**

 **-The chapter. Does it feel like unnecessary fluff? Was it at least enjoyable?**


	11. Chapter 11: Mission: Start

She wakes to the sound of rusting sheets and padding footsteps.

The haze of sleep clings to her thoughts without mercy, threatening to pull her back into the abyss of dreams. One part of her wants to just let go, to roll over and go back to sleep. Another part knows she needs to get up and at least try to act like a moderately normal person, because what would her classmates think if she was late to initi… initia… initial… that thing they're supposed to be doing today.

But really, another 15 minutes couldn't huuurt…

"Goooood morning~!" a voice singsongs in her ear. Yang. Her beloved older sister. Ever the morning person. Just like their dad.

Ugh.

So sleepy… so tired… while her typical, morning routine may or may not involve being pretty much dead to the world until filled with a few cups of coffee(sugar), it usually isn't this bad unless she stayed up late the night before.

The night before…?

…

…!

"Uuuuuuugh…" Ruby Rose moans, burrowing herself further into the covers. As if to hide from her shame.

"Come on Ruby, we've gotta get ready for initiation! Aren't you excited?"

"Grmblbmmmbmbm…" another unintelligible sound comes from under the sheets.

Translation: No, I'm not and I'm not going because if I run into Naruto right now I might actually die from sheer embarrassment.

Alas, her dear sister is unable to translate the mess of garbled sounds. And so the covers are ripped away without a shred of mercy, the coldness and light of the outside world assaulting her. With a grumble of 'normal knees' and a silent prayer that she didn't do anything too embarrassing _after_ passing out on her friend's shoulder, Ruby pushes herself up and tries to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"-!"

Then, a strange sound comes from in front of her. It takes her a second to identify the source as her older sister. Yang stares at her, desperately trying and failing to keep a straight face. She goes for her phone. Clicks her tongue when she finds it is out of power.

"Huhh…? Wha's it?" Ruby sleepily slurs.

"It's, uh… nothing!" Yang says with the biggest grin. "Just stay here for a second! I, I gotta go grab my scroll!"

With that, her big sister takes off, laughter echoing out behind her. Ruby blinks sleepily. Blinks again. Turns her head as Blake walks past, stopping only to shoot her a perturbed look. A second passes. Her features light up in realization. A slight chuckle leaks out from the taciturn girl and she leaves without saying a word.

' _Huh?'_

Next is Weiss. The Schnee heiress pauses. A touch of sympathy leaks into the cold and distant gaze for only a moment before she shakes her head, sighs and continues on her way.

…? What was that?

Is there something on her face?

"Uh… pft- Hey, Ruby?"

"Wha-?" she turns to find Jaune with his phone out. "Oh, hey Jaune. What's up?"

He takes a picture and hands the phone to her.

On the screen is a picture of her. With ink whiskers drawn on her cheeks and a black circle around her right eye. And the words ' _these are what cat whiskers look like_ ' scribbled on her forehead.

Ruby blinks. She stares blankly at the picture for another second, wondering why the her in the phone screen has all that stuff on her face.

Then, it clicks.

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOO-!"

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(VI)

Chapter 6: Mission: Start

* * *

"-NARUTOOOOOOOOOO-!"

"Oh, sounds like wolfie's awake."

Naruto strolls into the locker rooms, his hands shoved into his pockets and a slight smirk on his lips. That smirk quickly smooths back into a frown as he comes upon his locker.

Simply put, it looks like someone took a blowtorch to it.

There is a hole where the lock should have been. And a mess of bubbled-over metal in place of the once smooth and unblemished door. Perking a brow, Naruto touches the melted portion of the door, the metal having cooled long ago.

"Is this your locker?"

A voice comes from behind him. It is an older boy, one with jet black hair highlighted by a single strand of pink, a shade to match his eyes.

"Yeah…" Naruto turns back to the locker. He swings the door open, moves it back and forth. "Looks like someone had a bit of trouble with the lock."

"That's… certainly one way of looking at it." The older boy says, running his finger along the edge of the hole. "This must have happened sometime last night. Did they take anything?"

"No… I don't think…" Naruto grumbles, going through his belongings. "What the…"

"What is it?"

"Only thing that's missing is my jacket."

"Your jacket?"

"Yeah… just my jacket." Naruto furrows his brow, rifling through the contents of the locker. Bag. Check. Underwear. Check. Pants and shirt are still there, but…

He scratches his head. "I mean, I had some ink and brush and a bit of other stuff in there, but nothing anyone would be willing to risk sneaking into a place like here to take…"

What kind of weirdo breaks into a locker at a huntsmen academy just to steal someone's clothes?

"Well, it wouldn't be wise if you went into initiation today ill-prepared," the older boy says. He reaches behind him to retrieve what looks like an antiquated hunter's knife. "If you'd like, I have a spare that you can borrow…"

Naruto takes the offered knife. He gives the small blade a twirl, testing its weight.

"This is a good knife."

"Thank you. It... belonged to my father."

The slight pause does not escape him. "I see."

Naruto tosses the knife upwards and catches it by its blade, holding the handle back out to him. "In that case, you ought to keep it. I, uh… tend to break stuff."

"Are you sure?" the older boy asks. "My father gave it to me when I was young to protect me from the grimm. I no longer need it, but I am sure he would be happy if it was of use for someone in need, regardless."

"I appreciate the thought, but…"

Naruto raises his right hand. Golden flames engulf his fingers. Ethereal chains take form, coiling about the door and wrenching it from its hinges. "Trust me. I'm good."

The older boy perks a brow and looks to the door. "Won't the faculty be upset with you for that?"

"Eh, I'm sure they're going to have to replace the entire door anyway."

The older boy stares for another moment before he seemingly accepts the answer with a shrug. He tucks the knife away and looks to the golden chains with a curious eye. "That… that is Aura Projection, is it not?"

"Yep. You from the Nations?"

"Mistral. I am experienced in Emission and Reinforcement, but I could never quite get the hang of Projection."

A still-blond brow rises in interest. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Lie Ren."

"Lotus?"

"Maelstrom."

Ren smiles. Naruto smirks. The two shake hands.

"Leme guess, you've got water and earth?"

"That's right," Ren confirms. "I'm guessing your affinities are water and wind."

"Nah, just wind. You've got a pretty good combination. Though, I guess that means you're kind of weak against lightning, huh?"

"Heeey Reeen~, what's taking so looong~?!"

Naruto blinks at the bubbly voice that comes through the doorway. And Ren lets out a sigh. "Yes. Yes, I suppose it does."

She comes bouncing into the locker room, a girl slightly shorter than him with orange hair and light blue eyes. The instant she catches sight of him, her head stops, the rest of her body following soon after.

"You have cat whiskers!"

"You have orange hair."

"Nora, this is the boy's locker room."

The older boy's words go unheard, and Naruto watches the hand creep towards his cheeks. As if trying not to spook him. The thought to stop the girl from touching his cheeks crosses his mind, but thankfully another hand stops it.

"Nora, no."

"But, Ren! He has _cat whiskers_! And he's so small and cute and angry looking and, oh, I just want to _hug_ the angst right out of him and- whoa what happened here?"

Naruto looks to Ren, as if to ask if this is normal. Ren gives a resigned nod. Naruto pauses. Takes a moment as he finally manages to process the girl's words. He gives Ren another look, this time as if asking 'do I really look like that'?

This time, Ren can only shrug.

His skull aches, from behind his right eye to the back of his brain. A wince. Naruto presses his hand over his scared eye, rubbing his face. It is less the girl, Nora, so much as it is the sleep deprivation from staying up all night. The mental feedback from his clones isn't really helping either.

"Okay, first _not_ cat whiskers," he gives the girl a flat stare. "Or small. Or cute. Or angst-y, for that matter. I am one hundred percent angst free, okay? Zero angst-ing here."

He jabs a thumb at the discarded door. "And second, I am kind of annoyed. Someone broke into my locker."

"Oh my god." Nora wrinkles her nose at the door. "What'd they take?"

"Just my jacket, apparently."

"Just your jacket?"

"Yeah. Didn't even have anything worth much in it."

"Huh. That's weird. Maybe you've got a stalker or something?"

"Maybe," Naruto shrugs. He looks to Ren. "Anyway, you're witness. You saw the hole was there before I got here, right?"

"Indeed."

"Hole? What hole?"

Nora looks over at the locker door and tilts her head. "Why'd they punch a hole through the door and _then_ tear the door off? Don't ya just kind of need to do one or the other? What's the point of doing both?!"

"Oh, I'm the one who tore the door off," Naruto admits, raising his hand without any shame. "The hole was already there when I got here and I figured they're going to have to replace the whole thing anyway, so yeah."

"Ooooh," Nora nods in perfect understanding. "Wow, you're pretty strong! You must eat a lot of pancakes!"

"Eh, I'm more of a ramen guy but pancakes aren't bad."

Ren looks between the two of them, looking somewhat lost.

"Anyway," Naruto waves off the older boy's confusion. "Yeah, I've kind of got some history with one of the teacher's here, so I'm going to need you to back me up when she comes looking for me. I wouldn't put it past her to think I just got pissed 'cause I forgot my password and put a hole in it myself."

"One of the teachers?" Ren asks. "What did you do?"

"I was born."

"Hey, whiskers!"

Another voice comes from the hallway, this one familiar but much less angry or threatening than Naruto expected it to be. Yang waves at him from the entrance of the locker room.

"Come on, let's go get some breakfast!"

"Eh- sure, just give me a sec to change!" he shouts back.

Both pink and light blue eyes go wide as Naruto throws off his pajamas. He changes his underwear, puts on his t-shirt and track pants and shoves everything else into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.

"Anyway, I'll see you around. Later."

With that, Naruto rushes out of the locker room to join the busty blond. Silence fills his wake. Ren and Nora watch him leave without a word, their eyes fixed in the spot where he once stood.

In the hallway, Yang gives him a concerned look, her gaze lingering on what he can only guess to be the slight bags under his eyes. "You okay, whiskers? You kind of look like shit."

"I did have to babysit your sister last night."

"I know. Ruby told me already."

"She did?"

"Yup. So, you just not a morning person, or…?"

Naruto perks a brow at the older girl. Of the various moods he expected her to be in after learning of his late-night venture with her sister, worry for _him_ is definitely not one of them. "I'm fine… you're not angry?"

"What? 'Cause you drew on her face a little? Why'd I be angry?"

"… I dunno." Naruto says. He turns his gaze forward. "I just figured you'd be angry."

 _Because she isn't like them…_ it whispers in the back of his mind, coiling through his thoughts like blood in water. _She doesn't know…_

 _And if she did..._

A hand touches his shoulder. Naruto blinks, feeling a slight sting from behind his right eye, from underneath the seal.

"You sure you're okay?" Yang asks.

"Yeah, just… a bit of a migraine. I'm good."

"Ah… sorry about that," she squeezes his shoulder. "I know she can be a bit of a handful but… thank you for looking out for her. Being here is everything she ever wanted but… I don't think this is really the way she wanted it to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, don't you feel a little out of place?"

Like a monster in a school full of monster hunters. "I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess if you're spending time around guys like Junior, something like this is probably like nothing for you, huh?" Yang chuckles. Then, she smiles a sad but proud smile. "But for Ruby… well, my little sister's always had a bit of a hard time with people. And after getting pushed up two years ahead of everyone else, I'm sure she just likes having someone around her age to talk to."

' _Is that why she told me all of that stuff last night?'_ Naruto thinks to himself. "Well… it's not like I really mind… you know. As long as she's not launching the both of us off a cliff with her semblance."

"Well, thanks anyway. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you…"

"Show me your boobs."

"Come on whiskers, you already look like crap. Let's not add massive blood loss to your list of symptoms."

"Hundred percent worth it."

They share a light chuckle. Yang give his shoulder a small shove.

"So did you get a picture?" she asks. "My phone was out of power and Ruby managed to wash it all off before I could get my scroll."

"Yep," Naruto digs out his phone, pulls up a picture and hands her the phone. "This was right before I brought her back to the ballroom.""

"Is… is she _drooling_?!"

"Mhm. Got it all over my shirt."

"You have _got_ to send me a copy."

"Nope. All mine. Get your own blackmail."

"Come on~, here I already put my number in your phone."

"Well, I'll send it to you later," Naruto says. "Right now I've got to find somewhere to throw my stuff."

"Something wrong with your locker?"

"Yeah, it's sort of missing a door."

"What?"

"Someone broke into it last night. Just took my jacket though. Pretty weird."

"Huh… that is pretty weird. You can put your stuff with mine, but you think you'll still be good for initiation? Didn't have anything important in there, did you?"

"Not really… and besides."

A small scoff.

"I doubt there'll be anything that can give me any trouble."

* * *

...

"You're so mean! I can't believe you, you big jerk! How could you draw on my face like that?!"

"You drooled on me. Like, literally, all over my shoulder."

"Err… that's…"

"And whose fault was it we got launched off the cliff again?"

"Grk-!"

Her ears perk. Apparently the fate that had very nearly befallen her in her encounter with the red dolt had claimed another as its victim. She almost feels a touch of sympathy for him. Almost.

Though it does set her mind somewhat at ease. Apparently, the two had snuck off together at some point during the night. And from what it sounds like, she can hardly blame him for wanting some payback. Even if it was in the form of such a childish prank. So it wasn't as though he had choose her at random while they were all sleeping and decided to draw on her face.

After all, the idea of someone approaching you while you're sleeping… and…

The irony does not fail to slap her in the face. Weiss Schnee closes her eyes and presses her lips together as she retrieves Myrtenaster, a multi-action-dust rapier, from her locker and begins to load the dust into the cartridge.

She doubts there will be any obstacles or unexpected happenings she will be unable to overcome. Especially with the sword of the Arma Gigas now in her arsenal, a no doubt unintended side effect of her father's machinations. But still, it can't hurt to be cautious. One can never know when things are about to go horribly, _horribly_ wrong.

The events of three years ago come to mind, and she is quick to push them away.

Now is not the time for such thoughts.

Her attention instead goes to the nearby conversation, one she listens to with only half an ear. It isn't like she cares. She really doesn't. But a boy and a girl their age, s-sneaking out together to be alone at night… not to mention how nonchalant the older sister appears to be about the whole thing…

"Is she always like this? I'm pretty sure she actually fell asleep again at some point while we were eating."

"Dead to the world before she gets her coffee, big ball of energy throughout the day, out like a light before bedtime? Sounds about right to me."

"Yang!"

By God, the Brothers, the Sage, Cthulhu, whatever deities that may or may not exist and, more importantly, are willing to listen. Please do not let that girl end up as her partner.

"You seem pretty exited today, considering what you were like last night."

"Hey, I was having a rough day, okay?! I was tired and a little sleepy and I felt really, really bad about everything, since earlier, Weiss was yelling about how I almost blew us both off the cliff and this time, I kind of ended up actually sending the both of us flying off the cliff…"

… Please. Anyone but her. She'll even take the orange fool. At least that one seems to be marginally competent.

"But today is going to be different! No more awkward small talk! No more getting-to-know-you stuff! Today, I finally get to let my sweetheart do the talking!"

"It's the people I'm more worried about than the grimm… I'd take a forest full of Beowolves over being stuck with someone I don't get along with for the next four years."

"I know, right?!"

"Well, you two aren't the only ones going through initiation. What if the way they're deciding partners is like… I don't know, first person you meet eyes with?"

"If you think I am not willing to go through this thing with my eyes closed the whole time to avoid getting a partner, you vastly underestimate the depths of my contempt for other people."

"Um, Naruto? Actually… I was wondering if, you know, you wanted to be partners? With me, I mean! It's just, since we're both younger than everyone else here, I figured maybe we'd go well together?"

"Eh…? I-I mean no way! I already had to carry you all the way back to Beacon last night, no way I'm carrying you through initiation, too!"

"Urk… well maybe Yang…?"

"Actually… about that…"

Speaking of partners. Weiss's thoughts drift away from those who she hopes against hope she will not be partnered with and those who she may be able to marginally tolerate as a partner, to the one individual actually _deserving_ of her partnership.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on?" Weiss asks the girl next to her, a taller girl with bright red hair tied into a ponytail and kind green eyes. "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself!"

"Hmm… I'm not quite sure," the girl says with a polite smile. "I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was thinking, maybe we could be on a team together!"

"Well, that sounds grand."

Perfect.

Forget the red dolt, currently squabbling with her sister. And forget the orange fool talking to that guy who tried to hit on her last night. With this, she has secured the strongest piece. Pyrrha Nikos. Four time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament. A prodigy whose beauty is only surpassed by her combat prowess.

The smartest girl in class(her) combined with the strongest girl in class! Together, they'll be unstoppable! She can already see it. They'll be popular! They'll be celebrities! They'll get perfect grades! She doesn't know what kind of system they are planning to use to decide partners, but surely if Pyrrha herself has already agreed, then that means there's nothing that can get between them.

"You know what else is great?" the guy from last night pops in between them with what he no doubt believes to be a suave smile on his face. "Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

"You again?" Weiss sneers.

Wait a second. If here's here, that means-

"Oooh, you've got red hair. Cool. It's really long."

"It is rather long. I know it's not very practical, but I just can't bring myself to cut it."

"I like it. It's pretty."

"Oh, thank you."

"So, been hearing rumors about teams!" the guy says, drawing her attention back to him. "I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?"

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each." Pyrrha says.

"She's right," Naruto confirms. "I did a bit of digging last night. Seems like what they're doing is just sticking two pairs of partners together. Couldn't find anything on how they're deciding partners though."

Weiss perks a brow, noting the slight bags under the younger boy's eyes, along with the object attached to his upper back. It appears to be a silver greatsword with a clockwork at its crossguard, the hilt poking up over his shoulder and blade retracted as for ease of carrying. If she is not mistaken, it is the same weapon the red dolt had been carrying when they first crossed paths.

Before she can say anything, the blond would-be-womanizer turns his attention on Pyrrha.

"You don't say?" he looks to the form of _her_ future partner. "Well hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

Naruto very smoothly slides out of the way. Weiss not so smoothly wedges herself between the two.

"Jaune, is it?" Weiss asks in a tone that makes it all too clear she is already well aware of his name and simply can't bother to care. "Do you have any idea of who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow angel."

Out the corner of her eye, she sees the whiskered boy muffle a laugh. She'll deal with him later.

"This, is Pyrrha." Weiss says to the skirt chaser.

"Hello again!" said girl gives them a wave.

Jaune looks to his younger companion.

"You know her?"

"Nope." Naruto returns the wave from across the not-so-great wall of Weiss.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it." Jaune says.

"I think it's in Mistral?" Naruto shrugs.

"Where?"

"And she's not _just_ from Mistral." Weiss scoffs. "She's won the Regional Tournament four years in a row! A new record!"

"You know what she's talking about?"

"Er, kind of…? I think I remember hearing about that… at some point… somewhere… maybe…"

The sheer depths of their ignorance is truly baffling. The worst part is while she may have excused the younger of the two for being somewhat ignorant to the happenings of the outside world, he appears to be the only one with the slightest idea of what's going on.

Grasping for straws, Weiss goes for the most blatant and obvious example she can think of. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

At last, he seems to get it. His eyes light up in realization. "That's you?! But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

On the other hand.

"Pumpkin who's marshmallow what's?"

One step forward. Two steps back. Weiss slaps a hand over her face.

"You don't know what Pumpkin Pete's is?!" Jaune blanches, sounding honestly scandalized by the very idea.

"Uh… no? What is it?"

"It's the best cereal in the Kingdoms! How have you never heard of it?!"

"Well, I haven't had cereal in, like, seven years. So yeah."

"Okay, we have got to get you a box right after this initiation thing or whatever."

"If you'd like, I'm sure I could get you a discount…"

She was wrong.

She was wrong, thinking that being partnered with the red dolt is the worst possible outcome. Because a worse outcome is right in front of her, trying to explain the intricacies of cereal.

" _Ahem_."

Weiss clears her throat to get their attention. And she pins Jaune with a glare. "So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on _your_ team?"

He slouches, the bravado oozing out of him. "I guess not… sorry…"

Naruto gives the taller boy a conciliatory pat on the back.

"Actually Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader!" Pyrrha says with a none-too-obvious amount of sympathy.

And he perks right back up. "D'oh, stop it!"

"Seriously, please stop it." Weiss pleads. "This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune," Jaune says, scooching up to her. _Too close. Too close!_ "Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this but maybe-"

"Wait, Team Jaune? I thought your name was Jeanne."

'Jeanne' physically winces, the wind cut ruthlessly out from under his sails by the younger boy. It is all Weiss can do to keep her smile to an acceptable level. She never thought she would be so thankful for the orange fool's infuriating nicknaming habit.

"Well then _Jeanne_ ," Weiss slides out from under his arm. "As much as I _truly appreciate_ the offer, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline. But I'm sure you won't have any problems finding some _other_ members for your team. Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Ah, goodbye-!"

With that, Weiss flees, taking Pyrrha with her. Pyrrha manages to toss back a wave as she is dragged away. Naruto returns the wave and crosses his arms.

"I don't understand," Jaune sulks. "My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?"

"Well, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, you know."

"I guess so. Hey, do you give nicknames to everyone you meet?"

"Eh, it depends. Why?"

"Well, last night you called me Joan… and now you just said you thought my name was Jeanne. Are you just calling me random girl's names?"

"No idea what you're talking about, Janet."

* * *

…

"Sup, ya old hag."

"Insolent child."

As the last of the students arrive at Beacon Cliff, Blake's ears perk beneath her bow at the familiar voice from the day before. And a shiver runs down her spine at the sharpness of the response.

"Sheesh, does that kid have a death wish?" a voice next to her asks.

"What's he think he's doing, talking to Professor Goodwitch like that?" another voice asks.

"So she's the one he has a history with…"

The whiskers begin to spread all around her. And a single glare from the veteran huntress silences them. Professor Goodwitch looks to the smirking Naruto, a sour look on her face.

"Get to your spot," she snaps. "We will be having words after the examination."

"Hai, hai~."

The boy, Naruto, strolls onto one of the launch pads emblazoned with the sigil of Beacon Academy, disappearing from her view. With that, Professor Ozpin clears his throat and addresses the gathered students.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

The headmaster looks to Professor Goodwitch with a nod. In an instant, the annoyance disappears behind a cool mask of professionalism.

"I am sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'," she says. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," Professor Ozpin adds. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

"What being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

" _ **WHAT?!"**_

"Excuuuse me, Prufresssooor Ozpin siiir~. I has a questioooon~."

"Please save all questions and comments to the end."

The two youngest of their year make themselves known. And without missing a beat, Professor Ozpin continues in his briefing.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end o the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you _will_ die."

A nervous laugh comes from one of the students. Blake places her hand on the hilt of Gambol Shroud, her personal Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe. The method by which they're going to be assigned partners is rather annoying… but she should be able to avoid any potential trouble.

In the end, it is simply a matter of avoiding the people who you don't want to be partnered with and doing your best to seek out those who you do. And while there may be plenty of people content to let the die fall where they may, she does not count herself among them.

Ideally, the best-case scenario would be if she could partner with Naruto. The boy already knows of her faunus heritage and, for all appearances, couldn't care less. It'd be a massive boon to have someone around with whom she won't have to hide herself and would be willing to cover for her if anything does happen.

Failing that, there are also the red and yellow sisters she met last night. They appear to be friendly enough with Naruto, despite or in spite of his faunus-esque appearance, so chances are they'd be more accepting if and when the truth of her heritage does finally come out.

In the end, the only worst case scenario is getting stuck with _her_. And Blake is sure she'll hear the Schnee coming a long time before they actually have a chance to lock eyes.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors _will not_ intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. There, we will reguard that item as well as confirm your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Oh yeah! Hey, so-!"

A clunk. The tile beneath the whiskered boy's feet falls away to reveal a spring pad, said spring pad launching the boy into the skies over the forest. The students all watch as he flies into the distance, a black shadow swooping into view and catching the airborne teen in its beak before flying away.

"Now then, if there are no questions," Professor Goodwitch says with the slightest of smiles. "Please take-"

"Hey, so what happens if we don't have a partner yet and we run into two people who are already partnered?"

They look back to the launch pad. To the white-haired boy standing on the launch pad. The white-haired boy who just flew through the air and got eaten by a Nevermore, and yet is somehow still just standing there.

The smile crumbles away like dust. Professor Goodwitch looks to the boy with a haunted gaze. And Professor Ozpin gives the boy an exasperated smile of his own, letting out a small sigh.

"If such a case were to occur, precedence would be given to the first two to meet."

"Oh cool. Okay, so next question! If we manage to get a relic and come back here- I-I mean, if we _just so happen_ to not run into anyone or only run into people who've already been partnered, then what happens?"

Another sigh. "Then, accommodations will be made."

"Alright, nice."

With that, Naruto folds his arms, seemingly satisfied.

Now, if there are no further questions, please take your positions."

"Uh… sir?" Jaune very hesitantly raises his hand, his fear of being just straight up launched off the cliff in the same vein as his younger friend momentarily overwhelmed by his fear of what's going to happen to him once he actually lands. "I've got, um… a question. So, this landing… strategy thing… uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

Behind him, Naruto looks to Pyrrha. Their eyes meet. He looks to Jaune and perks a brow. Pyrrha nods, Naruto nods back and they both turn their eyes back to the forest as Pyrrha is launched into the air.

"Oh, uh, I see… so, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uh-huh… yeah…"

Yang winks at Ruby, putting on a pair of aviators before she goes flying with an excited shout. A second later, Ruby joins her.

"So, what exactly is a landing strategyYYYY **YYYYY-!"**

The clone of Naruto watches with a half-grin as Jaune is thrown into the air. He turns to the headmaster.

"Any last words?" the clone asks. "Once I dispel, the original will get all of my memories, so anything you need to say, say it now."

"I suppose it is no use trying to convince you to chance your stance on being assigned a partner?" Ozpin asks with amusement.

"Think you already know the answer to that." A smirk. "That being said… well, I'll _try_ not to wreck the curve too hard for everyone else."

"Please do."

The clone vanishes into a cloud of smoke. Ozpin watches the cloud dissipate. He takes a sip from his mug, a small smile spreading over his face.

"Such arrogance." Glynda frowns. "I pity whoever it is that ends up that boy's partner."

"It is not entirely unfounded." Ozpin looks to the huntress with a curious gaze. "That being said, do you truly believe he will be unable to traverse the Emerald Forest without running into a single other student? Or is that merely your hope?"

Her expression tightens, drawn like a string about to snap. Of course, Ozpin understands why. True, it is a heavy-handed solution, but alas, one that is ultimately necessary. While his heart hopes it will be better for the young Uzumaki in the long run, his mind understands a power such as his cannot be allowed to roam about unchecked.

Especially not now. Not with things progressing as they are and as they soon will be. In truth, the boy's presence at this school is just as much about protecting him as it is about protecting everyone else.

With another sip, Ozpin looks out onto the forest below, his mind drifting to another matter that requires his more immediate attention.

"Now, what am I going to do about team names…?"

* * *

 **AN: Not much to say. Pretty busy with school this week, so this chapter probably doesn't have the quality I would have liked. My beta is also missing/busy with his own stuff, so apologies if it isn't up to snuff. I literally finished it 15 minutes before posting. But, it's more of a sort of 'fill/connecting' chapter, so whatever.**

 **For this chapter:**

 **-Ren offering to let Naruto use his father's knife? On one hand, Ren seems like a nice enough guy to do something like that. On the other, it is sort of the last thing he has to remember his father by.**

 **-I might come back and edit it over when I have more time(maybe after this arc). So, rather than anything specific, are there any parts people felt were weaker/out of place? Anything that feels like it needed to be addressed but wanted?**


	12. Chapter 12: The Best Laid Plans

This isn't exactly how he pictured this initiation-exam-thing or whatever going. Of course, something like this really isn't anything too out of the norm for him, either. Flying through the skies in the mouth of a big-ass grimm, hundreds of feet in the air with absolutely zero idea of what he's supposed to be doing?

Just another day in the life of Uzumaki Naruto.

One hand and one foot is all it takes to brace open the jaw of the giant Nevermore. The wind tugs at his hair. The pancakes he ate earlier rest uneasy in his stomach. It isn't exactly what he is used to eating for breakfast, but according to a certain, self-proclaimed 'friend' of his, cup ramen does not qualify as morning food.

A sigh escapes his lips as he soars through the skies above the Emerald Forest.

That asshole. Ozpin probably launched him off the cliff before finishing the mission briefing so he'd be forced to find someone to tell him what the hell he's supposed to be doing. Luckily, he managed to make a clone before getting catapulted into the air.

Well, either way, it doesn't really make a difference. No matter what they're going to have to do, even if it means failing and getting kicked out of Beacon, he can't let anyone become his partner.

It'd be akin to strapping a ticking time bomb to them and hoping it never goes off. If, or when, he gets found out, if he has a partner, whoever it is will be subject to disgrace and scrutiny from the world over. 'You worked with alongside the Demon Fox for this long and you never realized it was him?! Or maybe are you trying to cover for him?' Like that, people would ridicule them. The shadow of the Demon Fox would haunt them for the rest of their career.

He wonders if that possibility had slipped Ozpin's mind when the man had invited him to come to Beacon Academy.

Probably not.

Someone like him wouldn't be so careless. It is more likely the headmaster has already thought this through and decided that the scales weighed in his favor.

Ozpin may be willing to put his integrity on the line… and his own life is something he's wagered time and time again. But that sort of burden isn't something he'd wish on anyone else. Ever.

Naruto almost misses the memories of his clone as they filter into his mind. Temple. Relics. Seems simple enough. First two people to meet take precedence. Good. That makes things a bit easier for him.

From up here, he should be able to see the temple. He closes his right eye. Aura traces the iris of his left with glowing gold. The colors of the world sharpen to an otherworldly clarity. Ringed with gold, the lone blue eye surveys the horizon, searching for the ruined temple.

There. In the distance. Hidden deep in the sea of greenery stands a circle of grey, rock and stone withered by the passage of time.

Naruto holds out his free hand. A ghostly flame blooms to life in his palm. He whips his arm back, a golden chain spouting forth from the flame and coiling around the Nevermore's neck. A screech of pain and anger is muffled into a pitiful gurgle. The entire body of the massive grimm spasms, jerks and tumbles out of the sky, wings flapping and head swinging back and forth as it tries to free itself.

Naruto anchors himself in place through aura. He clenches his hand into a fist. The chains tighten. With a yank of his arm, the Nevermore rights itself, soaring upwards with a beat of its wings, a slight tinge of gold seeping into the crimson light radiating from its eye.

A smirk crosses his whiskered cheeks. With a motion of his arm, Naruto charts a course for the skies above the abandoned temple, the wind and currents around them swirling to his command.

The trip there is a short one, the Nevermore riding upon his wind and arriving at the temple ruins with but a few flips of its massive wings. There, the ethereal chain shatters. The gold fades. The Nevermore comes to a sudden halt, flailing its wings to regain control of its flight upon the sudden return of its freedom.

"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Taxi-san~," Naruto reaches into his pocket and retrieves a thin strip of paper, strange symbols scribbled in ink onto its surface. He slaps it onto the Nevermore's beak. "Keep the change."

He leaps down. Swirling currents catch his fall, setting him down in front of the ruined temple. And an explosion ignites the sky, sound and force echoing across the tree line as a cloudburst of smoke fills the sky, a great shadow tumbling out of the smoke, righting itself with a few flaps of its wings and taking off into the distance with a screech.

Naruto watches it go with a somewhat disappointed expression.

"Now how am I supposed to get back…?"

To be honest, he'd hoped that explosive tag would stun the stupid bird long enough for him to grab a piece and get back to it before it flew away. If he wanted to kill it, he'd have used more explosive tags… or just cut its head off with his chain while he was still in its beak.

Well, whatever.

Naruto turns back to the abandoned temple and shoves his hands into his pockets. "So these are the relics, huh?"

Twenty pieces sit atop an equal number of stone pillars. Ten gold. Ten black. Queen. Bishop. Knight. Rook. Pawn. Four of each piece, two of each color.

"Interesting…" his mismatched blues sweep over the pieces. He puts a hand to his chin. "Now, I could just grab one and head back like I'm supposed to."

"Or, I could just be a dick and take them all. Wonder if I'd get extra credit for bringing back more than one?"

Probably not. Besides, even he would feel bad about screwing over everyone else, no matter how much he'd want to see the look on the hag's face if he did.

"Let's see, what else… check for booby-traps… maybe I could just booby-trap them for shits and giggles… nah, if I'm going to be playing hunter, I suppose I should at least _try_ and not be a dick. Not a complete dick, anyway."

It comes from behind him, a low rumbling growl. A pack of Beowolves emerges from the forest. They number nine in total, each larger than a full grown man, each with claws and fangs capable of rending through flesh and bone. Pale white spikes and armor cover their bodies, pitch black fur emitting a faint black smoke. Their eyes glow with crimson light from behind their masks, the Beowolves stalking towards their chosen prey.

"I'm guessing they're just going to pair up whichever partners take the same piece?" Naruto muses, paying the approaching grimm no mind. "Or are they going to do a yin-yang thing? Put together different colors of the same piece?"

He walks over to a gold pawn. The smallest piece and the easiest to carry. Careful in case of a trap, Naruto takes the piece and shoves it into his pocket.

He glances over at the other pawns. Turns towards the pack of Beowolves.

"Oh no~, I'm being attacked by the grimm!" Naruto says in the flattest tone of voice imaginable. He grips the handle of the silver greatsword on his back with his right hand. "Oh no~, whatever shall I do?!"

He peeks around. There is nothing obvious like a security camera or anything like that, but Ozpin did say the teachers would be watching.

So-

One of the Beowolves lunges at him. A wind-enhanced kick sends it straight into the pillar that once held the gold pawn.

"Whoops, foot slipped."

His left eye flickers with the shadow of flame. Gold creeps along his right hand, ghostly embers engulfing the weapon at his back as a rough blueprint of the greatsword-scythe-hybrid filters into his mind.

' _So that's how you extend the blade…'_

When he told Ruby his locker had been broken into, she offered to lend him the weapon that had been lent to her. She told him, 'My Uncle gave me his weapon to use until I got mine back and now that I have Crescent Rose back I don't need it so you can use it!' And while his first instinct had been to decline her offer, it dawned on him that it'd be better for him to just take the weapon and roll with it.

The more he can divorce himself from the image of the person she fought that night in Vale, the better. In that case, using a weapon she hasn't seen him using before with a style she hasn't seen before is the best thing he can do to keep from being exposed.

That the two modes of Qrow Branwen's weapon happen to match up with the two types of weapons he actually knows how to use is just a happy coincidence.

Speaking of which, that's also a big part of the reason he was willing to accept the weapon Ruby offered him while he declined to use Ren's knife.

On the one hand, you have a memento of one's parent, someone who seems like the kind of person who would say 'helping someone in need is only common sense'. On the other hand…

You have Qrow Branwen.

' _I should probably wash my hands after this…'_

Another Beowolve lunges through the air, claws extended as to grab him, teeth poised to tear out his throat. A step. Naruto moves out of the way of the wolf-like grimm's charge, taking the split second to position himself.

A flash of silver. The Beowolve is cut clean in two, the upper half of its body flying into the distance, its waist and legs tumble across the ground, already breaking apart into motes of ash. The force of the slash continues well past the bisected shadow, smashing into and through another pillar.

One of the two pillars that once held a black pawn.

"Whoops, hand slipped."

The weapon is almost comically oversized in his hands. From the base of the hilt to the tip of the blade, it is only about a foot shorter than him. Yet with the ease of one well accustomed to handling weapons looking like they belong to a grown adult a foot or two taller than him, Naruto holds the silver greatsword at his side with only one hand, not appearing inconvenienced in the slightest by either the weight or the size of the weapon.

"Now then…"

Aura floods his body. His left eye begins to glow with gold. A sheath of wind wrapping around its edge, he raises the great sword, draws back his arm and-

Click.

The twin barrels at the crossguard go off. A 'bang' echoes through the forest clearing. And Naruto is launched to the side by the recoil, crashing through the pillar holding the second black pawn.

There is a moment as the Beowolves look to each other, not entirely sure what to make of just what happened.

"Alright, that one was actually an accident, I swear." Naruto grumbles as he climbs out of a bush and walks back to the spot where he was standing before, rubbing his head, dragging the greatsword behind him. "Sheesh, they really just stick guns on everything, don't they?"

"Where was I?" he tilts his head. Takes a moment to think. "Oh yeah."

The white-haired boy vanishes in a hollow clap of wind.

The next instant, the severed torso of a Beowolve flies into the air.

Gold snakes around the neck of a second Beowolve, its neck snapping as it is hurled through the air and into the pillar containing the last of the pawns, the second gold pawn.

Another clap. Another flash. The wind-sharpened blade parts flesh and bone like paper. Two more Beowolves fall, one cleaved from shoulder to hip, the second only falling because of its now-missing leg. A quick kick catches its neck. A burst of wind snaps it like a twig. The already disintegrating body flies, cartwheeling backwards until it collides with a third Beowolve, killing its packmate on impact.

An invisible blade of air slices the eighth Beowolve to ribbons, splattering its remains over the forest floor. And the last Beowolve lets out a pitiful whimper as the mismatched gaze falls upon it, one eye an ashen blue and the other a burning gold.

On cue, the torso of the first Beowolve falls, crushing the last of the Beowolves beneath it.

"That takes care of that," Naruto twirls the greatsword, retracting the blade and returning it to its place on his back all in one, smooth motion. The glow fades from his left eye. A faint chill echoes through his body and he shoves his hands into his pocket.

' _It's cold…'_ he thinks with a frown. For what seems like almost the hundredth time that morning, he wonders what kind of weirdo breaks into someone's locker just to steal their jacket and resists the urge to pull his arms into his shirt like a turtle.

Being injured or maimed has never really been a worry to him thanks to his absurd healing factor, but, the matter of his modesty is another issue all together. He can regenerate an eye or an arm or a liver. What he can't regenerate is a shirt. And while this may have typically lead one to think the less clothes they wear the better, he has always been of the opposite mind for a variety of reasons.

Namely A.) It's cold, and B.) People already think he's some sort of depraved pervert. Something that exposing himself in public probably _really_ isn't help.

He still can't believe they chose _that_ picture for his Bingo Book entry.

"Now then," Naruto looks up at the sky. "I could just hitch another ride back to the cliff… but then again…"

His gaze falls to the forest below. And a grin stretches across his whiskered cheeks.

"I _did_ promise not to wreck the curve too hard."

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(VII)

Chapter 12: The Best Laid Plans…

* * *

"So, you like books? That's cool. What kind of books do you usually read?"

"I don't have any particular preference."

"Well, what about that book from last night? A guy with two souls? What's that about?"

"Look, I appreciate the sentiment and I do think we should get to know each other better if we're going to be working together for the next four years, but maybe wait until we're out of the grimm-infested forest?

"Fiiine~."

The two of them make their way through the trees and shrubbery. Yang follows behind the girl who her sister talked to about books last night. She thinks her name is Blake. It's not as though there weren't worse options. Even if it has been years since she sat down with a book and read it cover to cover, the girl seems nice enough. So it could've been worse.

After all, she could've been paired up with the angry billboard. Now _that_ would've got old real fast.

"So, temples this way?" Yang asks, trying to strike up some form of conversation.

Blake nods. "I saw it while we were above the forest."

A whistle. "Good eyes. I couldn't see anything from up there! Other than, you know. Trees."

"Thanks. Though, I am a bit concerned."

"What's up?"

"That explosion from earlier." Blake stops. Her eyes narrow. She brings her hand to the hilt of her weapon. "We have company."

Shadows stalk into view from behind the trees, giant beasts with pitch black fur and bone white masks. A trio of Ursai and a pack of six Beowolves, two of the bear-like grimm as big as three or four of the Beowolves put together with the third even bigger still. An Ursa Major.

"I saw that too!" Yang says. With a pump of her arms, her bracelets unfold into a pair of yellow gauntlets. "Wasn't it in the same direction we're headed?"

Blake draws her katana, taking the bladed sheath in her off hand. "It was. I think it came from right on top of the temple."

They come. The Beowolves run ahead of the Ursai, four breaking off to surround Blake as two come at her. Yang balls her hands into fists, her lips breaking out into a wide grin.

 _This_ is why she came to Beacon.

The rush of adrenaline. The unpredictability of combat. _This_ is what drove her to become a huntress. Sure, there's nothing wrong with helping people out and meeting new friends, and she'd be lying if she said there wasn't some tiny, little dash of wanting to someday find her birth mother mixed in there. But this here, the thrill of danger, is what she lives for.

Though in that respect, she's already had her dessert long before the appetizer even arrived.

To put it PG-13, nobody has ever pushed her semblance as hard as it got pushed yesterday. Not even Taiyang or Qrow. Her dad and uncle, two veteran huntsmen, both highly skilled fighters in their own right. Yet, with them it has always been training. Technical and methodical. Neither of them had ever thought or cared to test the limits of her semblance.

But yesterday? With that boy only three weeks older than her own little sister? In _not_ PG-13 terms, for a short minute Yang Xaio Long was in heaven, so much so that when she woke up she thought it had all been some kind of fucked-up, reverse, wet dream.

This little scuffle isn't going match up in the slightest. But, that doesn't mean she can't enjoy it for all its worth.

The first Beowolve reaches her, throwing itself through the air. She brings her fist down on the crown of its head, emptying a shotgun shell into its skull for good measure. Another shell launches her forward and she spins, unloading the momentum into the side of the second Beowolve's head with a punch. A second punch snaps its head back. A flurry of jabs crushes its sternum. A final shell to the throat sends it down for good.

Yang retakes her stance. Looks for her next target. Finds it in the Ursa lumbering towards her, one of the two smaller ones. She dashes forward. A paw bigger than her head swipes at her, attempting to smash her into the dirt.

Aura anchors her to the ground. She raises her arms in a guard. The paw slams into her gauntlets, the force causing her hair to billow backwards, the ground caving slightly beneath her feet.

In terms of height, the Ursa is nearly a full two feet taller, even hunched over. By all means, the blow should have sent her flying. And yet, Yang fails to budge, only grinning as she feels the flame of her semblance beginning to spark and flicker.

Two punches to the elbow and the joint gives with a sickening crack. The Ursa releases a howl of pain, its arm falling limp to its side. The ground under her feet explodes and launches her forward, a useful trick she learned after being sent flying off a stupid tree for the hundredth time.

An uppercut and a point-blank shell throw the Ursa upwards. A hard right and a second shell catapults it backwards, the grimm crashing through the trees as it flies backwards into the distance.

Yang smirks, popping an empty shell out from her gauntlet. She looks over to find her partner dodging the uncoordinated assault of the other two Ursai, the smaller of the two missing an arm and the larger with a notable slash through one its eyes.

"Hey!" she shouts. "Pick on someone your own size!"

Two punches fire off two shells, one all but bouncing off the armor of the Ursa Major while the second catches the smaller Ursa on the side. It is little more than a distraction, but that distraction is all her partner needs.

A quick slash of the bladed sheath opens its stomach. The smaller Ursa falls, black blood spilling out from its gut. The Ursa Major turns on the killer of its pack mate, a roar of anger ripping from its throat.

And Yang descends on the grimm from behind. Her fist meets its back with a sharp crack, a point-blank shotgun shell blasting through its armor. The Ursa Major stumbles forward. Blake slashes it across the stomach. Yang punches it in the back of the leg. The giant grimm lurches forward and the edge of a katana is there to meet it, slicing its head from its shoulders.

"Nice!" Yang pumps her fist. She makes her way around the headless lump of fur as Blake sheaths her katana, raising her hand. "Great teamwork, buddy!"

There is a moment as Blake looks to the hand, as if wondering if what they did can actually be considered teamwork. She lets out a sigh, but still gives her the high-five.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Blake says. "That explosion came from right over the temple. I also think I saw a Nevermore flying out of the smoke. And I think it was the same one that ate the boy from the cliff."

"You think that explosion was whiskers? Figured something like that wouldn't keep him down long. So how'd he know to go to the temple?"

"Whiskers?"

"Yeah, whiskers!" Yang holds three fingers over both her cheeks. "You know. White hair. Scar over an eye. Kind of angsty. Little short. Pissed off Professor Goodwitch."

"Ah." A pause. "You call him whiskers?"

"He calls me 'boobs'," Yang shrugs. "Not like either of us cares, really. You know him?"

"Yes. Yesterday, I stopped him… or rather one of his clones, from picking a fight with one of our classmates. After that I found his real body and we talked a bit."

"Oh. Well, when we met we… uh, kind of punched each other a little?"

"… A little."

"Just a little."

"Okay… well whisk-," Blake pauses. She rolls the name around in her mouth and apparently finds it not to her liking. "… Naruto's clones transfer all their memories back to him when they expire. I'm guessing he heard everything he needed to know from the clone he left after he was launched."

"Oh cool." Yang puts her hands on her hips. Blinks. "Wait! Does that mean he's already got a relic?!"

"Probably."

"Sheesh, wreck the curve a bit more why don't you…"

Yang's gauntlets fold back into bracelets. Blake returns her sheathed katana to her back. They begin to make their way through the forest again, the black and yellow partners headed in the direction of the explosion.

"So, what'd you guys talk about?"

"Just… stuff."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?"

"Well… Naruto told me a bit about his teacher. The one who taught him how to make clones? Apparently, he was a huge pervert."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. He said everything he can do, and I'm quoting here, has 'some sort of secondary, pervy potential'."

"Really?" Yang grins. "Oh, I am _so_ teasing him about that later."

Hold on a second. "Wait, how are clones and chains perv- oooh!"

"… He uses chains?"

* * *

"I have the intense urge to punch something black and white right now."

Naruto looks to the side as an Ursa charges out from behind a tree.

"That works."

Aura courses through his arm. Wind wraps around his fist. He plants his feet and meets the Ursa's charge with a punch.

His fist and the grimm's mask make contact. And his fist goes through the mask and into the grimm's head, raging winds funneling through his arm, slicing through flesh and bone, filling the body of the grimm and causing it to balloon into the rough shape of a ball before it explodes into a fine mist of ash and blood.

"Hmm, urge to punch black and white thing not satisfied," Naruto muses, picking shards of the grimm's mask out of his hand. The tiny cuts each close with a quick hiss of steam and smoke. "Actually, I think it's rising…"

A pack of Beowolves begin to emerge from the forest. At their head stands one far larger than the rest, this one standing over ten feet tall hunched on its hind legs. Shards of bone-like armor cover its shoulders and knees. Beneath a layer of ragged fur and leathery skin, its muscles ripple with the strength to rip a grown man in two. Its eyes are a baleful crimson, burning with rage and hunger from beneath its mask. The Beowolve Alpha lets loose a piercing roar, movement cresting through the trees as more and more of the wolf-like creatures emerge to answer its call.

"Oh, perfect timing."

Naruto draws the silver greatsword. Extends the blade. He spins the giant weapon forward, the clocks and gears at its guard whirling, golden flames flickering as they ignite across the blade and hilt. The blade splits into five pieces, curving backwards to form a serrated beak. The hilt extends, top and bottom telescoping to form a curved shaft. The greatsword becomes a great scythe, Naruto taking the oversized weapon into both his hands.

There is a moment as the Beowolves can't help but stare, the white-haired child before them attempting to wield a weapon almost twice as long across as he is tall. Even to the savage intelligence of the grimm, such a sight can't help but be seen as odd and almost comical.

Seventeen seconds later, Naruto strolls away, bits and pieces of grimm dissolving into ash behind him.

"Two-thirds seems to be a good length for me…"he says to himself, retracting the shaft just so. Maybe a bit longer…?

Adjusting the length is a simple matter of manipulating the aura flowing through the weapon. While he can just use the mechanisms built into the weapon, his ability to control his aura allows him far more control over the weapon itself.

It is the difference between having the gears and triggers move themselves versus just pressing a button. On the one hand, it affords far more freedom and control over the entire transformation along with probably being the faster of the two. On the other hand, it does require more concentration and focus to catalyze the process.

The idea is probably similar to the concept behind the witch's semblance. But where her semblance involves 'applying a force to an object from the outside', what he is doing is more along the lines of 'animating and having the object move itself'.

In other words, the difference between being pushed somewhere and just walking over there yourself.

' _This thing is actually pretty cool,'_ Naruto thinks, rotating the shotgun barrels at the 'crossguard' of the scythe back and forth. _'Hmm… though, I think I like wolfie's more… even if it only has a scythe form...'_

And then there's the matter of the engravings over the flat of the blade.

With a flick of his wrist, he returns the scythe to its sword-form. The blade straightens, the hilt collapsing and rotating back into place all to the tune of clicking gears. Holding the greatsword in front of him, Naruto traces the markings on the blade, each of the pale-grey marks igniting into a heatless, golden flame as his finger passes over them.

"… An inverted Four-Symbols?" His eyes narrow. "This is… if you channeled a semblance into something like this-"

A girly scream interrupts him. Naruto blinks. The flame vanishes from the length of the greatsword. He looks up in the direction it came from, the screaming getting closer and closer. Soon enough, he makes out the sound of two pairs of footsteps, both fleeing from something scuttling across the forest.

Well, it sounds like they've already partnered up. But, just to be safe. Naruto closes his eyes and the world vanishes into darkness. And in the darkness, everything else sharpens.

The footsteps, boots scrapping against dirt. The clanking of armor. The gasping of breath. Behind them, a shadow of bloodlust gives chase, the presence of the grimm all too obvious even with his self-induced blindness.

"Naruto?!"

The girly screaming gives way to a (somewhat)masculine voice.

"Jane, that you?"

"Jane?" a confused voice asks, this one belonging to a female. Not the one that was screaming.

"Come on man, not in front of Pyrrha! No wait, that's not important! We've got to run! Run now!"

"Hm?"

The scuttling gets closer. The clicking and clacking of an exoskeleton reaches his ears. A Deathstalker. A fairly large one at that, thirty feet and closing.

' _That's a pretty big bug… so I'm going to need a pretty big boot.'_

Twenty feet. Quickly running through his catalogue of 'boots', he finds one that should do the trick. Retracting the blade, Naruto returns the greatsword to his back and brings his hands together.

They race through a sequence of seals, his fingers blurring as they weave through the hand signs. In a matter of seconds, he completes a series of fifteen seals, finishing on the seal for 'Bird'.

' _Wait a second. Was it Snake-Boar-Horse or Snake-Bird-Horse? Let's see, D-H-S-B-H- wait. Crap. They both start with B.'_

Ten feet.

' _Ah screw it. Fifty-fifty.'_

He throws a hand forward, releasing the technique.

" **Fuuton: Fuu-ou Tsuchi."** _ **(Wind Release: Hammer of the Wind King)**_

A thunderous crash. Air gathers, compresses to a point and descends on the approaching grimm, shattering the armor, crushing the exoskeleton, smashing the surrounding trees to splinters and causing the earth to break and crest, a shockwave of force echoing through the forest as dirt and soil erupt into the air. A current of wind protects him from the debris. His hair is set aflutter. And Naruto cracks open an eye to find the remains of a Deathstalker, the broken form of the giant-scorpion-grimm flattened beneath a layer of dirt at the bottom of a crater.

"Holy crap! What was that?!"

The voice comes from behind him. Naruto closes his eyes again, turns to the voice and raises his hand. "Yo. So, before I open my eyes I just wanna be sure. You're both partnered up, right?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"Cool." Naruto opens his eyes, greeting the familiar head of red hair with a wave. "How's it goin, Nikos?"

"Better now," she says, giving him a shaky smile. "Thank you for the assistance."

"Yup."

"Are we just going to ignore how you made some weird symbols with your hands and expoded that giant scorpion thing?!"

"Exploded is a bit of a strong word… I'd say, maybe… squashed? Crushed? Stepped on?"

"SAME DIFFERENCE!" Jaune all but screams, looking maybe a second or two away from hyperventilating.

"Hey, hey Jean," Naruto says, talking up to the taller male and holding up a hand.

"IT'S JAU-!"

He slaps him. Jaune blinks.

"Better?"

"… Actually, kind of yeah. But seriously, what was that?"

"What? You've never seen a ninja shoot a fireball-no wait, that's a stupid question. So, uh, basically once you're good enough at aura manipulation, you can do crazy stuff like that by using hand seals to mold your aura."

"I believe it is called ninjutsu." Pyrrha helpfully adds.

"You've seen it before?"

"Yes, I've fought a few practitioners. Though, I don't believe I've ever seen such a powerful wind technique before."

"Eh, you probably have but it just wasn't as obvious. Most wind techniques aren't so flashy, you know? What I did was nothing too special. It's just throwing a metric ton of wind-natured aura on top of something."

"Oh, I see. Do you have a wind affinity? Which level are you on?"

"Er, I dunno how it goes in the textbooks at Signal but I can cut a waterfall pretty easily, so whatever's above that I guess.

Jaune blinks. He stares at the two as Pyrrha says something about 'just' getting the hang of waterfall cutting(how in the **** do you even cut a freaking _waterfall?!_ ), blinks again and rubs his eyes. "Okay look, I don't know what you guys are talking about and I probably really should, but can we finish this conversation somewhere where there _aren't_ twenty-foot scorpions trying to eat us?"

"Ah yes, Jaune's right." Pyrrha says.

"Guess so." Naruto shrugs. "Anyway, later."

He waves them goodbye and sets off.

"Wait, Naruto!" Pyrrha calls after him. "I think that's the wrong way! That's where the cliffs are!"

Naruto smirks, fishing the gold pawn out of his pocket. "I know."

"You already got a relic?!" Jaune gaps. "No way! How'd you get over there so fast?"

"Rode a Nevermore."

"You… what?"

"Rode a Nevermore."

"… You know what? I get it. I am _super_ out of my depth here. Really starting to get the message. But, I'm pretty sure hitching a ride on something that is actively trying to eat you isn't what you're supposed to be doing."

"Hey, Ozpin just said we had to get to the temple. Never said anything about how we were supposed to get there."

Jaune gives the younger boy a helpless look. He looks to his partner for some back up.

"I suppose if you have the means to control its flight, it isn't too terrible of an idea," Pyrrha muses. "I'm guessing you used your wind element?"

"Mhm. Got some other tricks up my sleeve too, but yeah. Kind of not the best idea if you don't have a good landing strategy."

Jaune shivers at the words 'landing strategy'.

"Speaking of which, that reminds me," Naruto kicks a pebble into the crater, at the dead Deathstalker and looks to Pyrrha. "Why were you guys running from this thing, anyway? Aren't you the whatever-time champion of the something-tournament? I dunno what sneeze was talking about, but it sounds pretty important. Shouldn't something like this overgrown bug have been a cakewalk for you?"

Pyrrha glances away. She rubs her arm. "That's…"

"Oh, she's probably just tired!" Jaune explains, coming to his partner's defense. "Yeah, since she unlocked my aura earlier."

"… You _**what**_ **?"**

"I-I'm sorry?"

His gaze falls upon her and she flinches back. It takes a conscious effort for Naruto to keep the anger from seeping into his voice, so much so that it is all he can do to keep a blank face. An expression arguably even more unsettling than it'd have been if he simply started yelling at her.

"W-what?" Jaune looks between the two of them with confusion. "Was she not supposed to do that? What's wrong?"

Naruto closes his eyes. He brings a hand to his face, taking a deep breath, the heat rising up in his chest doing nothing to help calm his already growing migraine.

Of all the stupid, idiotic, brain-dead things she could have done-!

' _Don't yell at her. If you yell at her, they'll both feel bad. And then, they'll attract the grimm. And then, they'll get eaten. So, let's try to calmly explain things to them. Without calling either of them idiots.'_

"Let me answer your question with another question." Naruto says, removing his hand and looking to Jaune. "Be honest. If you lie, I'll know. And if you lie, I'm going to kick your ass all the way back to the cliff. And I _will_ do it. Trust me. I can get some good air."

Jaune gulps and nods. Naruto narrows his eyes into a glare. "Tell me, which is that sword more of a threat to? Any of the grimm in this forest? Or you?"

"Um… I mean, if those are the only two options, I guess… me."

 _Don't call her an idiot. Don't call her an idiot. Don't call her an idiot._

Naruto then turns to Pyrrha. "And _you_ are the Four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament. Which means you are the single strongest person to come out of Mistral in the past _four years_."

"I suppose that's true…" Pyrrha says, her voice one part bashful and two parts confused.

"So, let me get this straight." Naruto groans. "Instead of pulverizing each and every single grimm on your way to the temple, _maybe_ leaving him one or two of the smaller ones so he doesn't look like a complete load, getting one of the relics in no time flat and returning to the cliff, you decided to unlock his aura, effectively hamstringing yourself by shorting out your own and making it so that by the both of your powers combined, you can't even kill something like that overgrown bug over there."

"It… seemed like a good idea at the time?"

 _Do. Not. Call. Her. An-_

"Idiot girl."

"I'm sorry?"

"That's my new name for you. Idiot girl."

"O-oh."

Naruto squeezes his eyes shut, rubbing his temples.

He should leave them. He _really_ should just leave them. Let them suffer the consequences of their own idiocy, one being stupid enough to apply to a monster killing school whilst not actually being able to kill monsters and the other being too dumb to realize how _terrible_ of an idea it is to unlock someone's aura in the middle of a forest full of grimm. And that's not even getting into how lopsided the power difference between the two of them is. This is just like when… just like when…

He slaps his cheeks with both hands. Hard. Hard enough for the sting to eject him from his thoughts because if he gets started down _that_ rabbit hole, they really are going to be drowning in grimm in a matter of minutes. Grinding his teeth and trying his hardest to ignore the echo of the flames crackling in the background of his mind, Naruto turns 180 degrees and gets started right back down the way he came.

And everything was going so well, too.

"Alright you two, come on, get a move on, let's go." Naruto grunts as he stalks past the two.

"Why, where're we going?" Jaune asks.

"Why?!" Naruto stops, whirling around to shoot the older boy a glare. "Because you were somehow lucky enough to run into the two stupidest people in this forest!"

He jabs a finger at Pyrrha and throws up his hand. "The one girl stupid enough to short out her aura to unlock yours _and_ the one guy stupid enough to not ditch you for it! We're going to the temple so we can get your asses a relic and get you back to the cliffs before _she_ gets herself killed doing something else stupidly heroic!"

"You're going to show us to the temple?!" Jaune beams. He looks to Pyrrha, the both of them sharing a happy smile. Without a care for the sour expression on the younger boy's face, Jaune pulls Naruto off his feet and into a hug. "Oh, thank you!"

"… I swear to the sage, next person who hugs me is getting punched."

* * *

 **AN: And the initiation arc really begins. Apologizes if it feels like this is taking forever to get somewhere, but it is more or less the introduction arc for a big part of the RWBY-verse.**

 **Also, I'm going to try to actively respond to more in-depth reviews now, ie I will try to answer a review to chapter 12 before chapter 13 comes out. If I don't answer you, it is because A.) If I just reply 'thank you' to every single review it'll get real spam-y real fast so I won't reply unless I have something to say, B.) it's something that will be addressed in a later chapter and I don't want to spoil or C.) I'm super busy and it's going to be either responding to reviews or finishing the chapter on time. More than likely, 99.9% of the time, it'll be C.**

 **For this chapter:**

 **-More generally, I'm trying to shift my writing style to be more descriptive. How is it? Are there places where it feels like the narrative just drones on?**


	13. Chapter 13: 9

"Hey, so is it really that bad that Pyrrha unlocked my aura?"

"Yes… no. Yes and no."

The trio moves through the forest, Naruto leading the front with Jaune and Pyrrha following behind him.

"It's not so bad that you had to have your aura unlocked," Naruto grumbles, smacking a branch out of the way. "I spent years training and never manifested my aura myself. In the end… I had to have mine unlocked for me, too."

He clenches his jaw. Stops talking for a moment to steady his emotions. A potent cocktail of rage and guilt flares up in his heart and he is quick to stamp it out, kicking the memory right back down where it belongs before it can even begin to rear its ugly head.

"The problem…" an annoyed sigh. "Is that she chose to do it here, in the middle of a forest swarming with grimm."

He looks behind him to find questioning looks on both their faces. Rolling his eyes, Naruto turns his gaze forward again.

"There are two main things I'm worried about," he explains, holding up two fingers. "Yes, it's bad she depleted all of her aura to unlock yours. But that's only half of it. The second half is you. Your semblance."

That does it for one of them. Pyrrha's eyes widen in realization. "You're worried his semblance could be a threat to him or those around him. I… I never even considered that."

"I don't blame you," Naruto says through clenched teeth. "Those cases are far and few between… but…"

He stops. Physically stops, placing a hand on a nearby tree as the world lurches and for a moment, a short, quick, almost imperceptible moment, the trees and the vibrant greens and the earthen browns are all consumed by a burning, crimson black.

"I've seen how bad it can get. And I don't want to have to see anything like that ever again."

There is a slight sting from his right eye. Naruto turns to face the two partners.

"It's probably nothing. I hope it's nothing. But thing tend to go wrong whenever I'm in the immediate vicinity. And as it stands, neither of you are in any condition to deal with it if his semblance is something like that. Luckily enough for the both of you, not only am I paranoid enough to not leave that to chance, I'm also strong enough to deal with anything that might happen because of it."

With that, Naruto turns around and continues leading them through the forest. Jaune runs up next to him with a confused look.

"Wait, so a semblance is just like a power you get from your aura, right?" he says. "I don't get it. How could that be a bad thing?"

"Jaune, not all semblances are wholly beneficial to their wielder…" Pyrrha explains from behind them. "We all bear both light and dark within us. That is why we are not equally as mindless as the grimm. As Naruto said, a semblance is born from your aura. If aura is the light, then a semblance is the mirror that reflects it unto the physical plane. But the image that mirror reflects can take any form. You won't know what it is until it has already realized itself."

"Uh… yeah, er…"

"Let me put it this way," Naruto chimes in. "Where I come from, there's a legend about a clan of people whose semblance get them summon the Shinigami, the God of Death itself."

"I'm not really seeing how that's a bad thing. I mean, being able to summon a god… that sounds awesome!"

"Except the fine print went something along the lines of, 'if you ever summon me, I'll kill _one_ enemy for you, but I'm also killing you and munching on both of your souls for the rest of eternity."

Jaune pales. "Okay… so… not so awesome."

"Very not so awesome," Naruto agrees in a flat tone. "You can imagine why they aren't around anymore."

"Now, why don't we see if we can get you back to Beacon _before_ you end up selling your soul to kill a Beowolve?"

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(VIII)

Chapter 13: 9

* * *

"Man, I'm sooo~ glad we ended up as partners! Oh, I don't mean like boyfriend-girlfriend partners, but partner-partners, you know? I mean, how weird would it have been to be stuck with someone you don't know for the next four years? Sure, you could end up just making a new friend, but what if you get stuck with someone you just _cannot_ get along with?! That would _suck_ , big time! And us, we've always been Ren and Nora! Nora and Ren! Of course, we'd end up as partners! We've always been together! O-oh, I mean like friends-together, not like together-together~. And…! And… Ren?"

Nora looks back at her childhood friend to see him stopped a few paces behind her, a troubled look on his face.

"Something wrong?" she asks.

Doubt flickers across his face. After a moment, Ren slowly shakes his head. "No, everything is fine. It's… just a bad feeling. I can't explain it."

"Well, turn that frown upside down, because-!"

A Beowolve charges out of the tree, lunging at the two teens. Nora promptly pulls out her hammer, punting the grimm back into the forest with a picture-perfect golf swing.

"Do you _mind_?! We are trying to have a conversation here!"

"Nora, I don't think they can understand you."

Ren lets out a sigh as his partner makes after the emerging Beowolves like a child playing whack-a-mole. Still, there is a slight smile on his face. While a good 90% of what she said may have gone straight over his head, not all of it did. And that 10% percent is a sentiment he shares as well.

' _I'm glad we're partners, too.'_

With that, the smile drops from his face. Pink eyes turn to the trees, a faint glow filtering through the irises. Outlines become clear in the canopy, great shadows scampering through the forest.

Movement from the side. A small metal disk slides into his palm from his sleeve, that disk unfolding into half of a pair of automatic pistols, the handgun more blade than gun with a sickle-like edge fitted underneath the muzzle.

A Beowolve leaps from the trees, descends on the long-haired teen, toppling them both to the ground and rolling across the forest floor. Three more of the wolf-grimm emerge to join in their packmate's kill, the first Beowolve rolling and rolling across the grass. It rolls until its momentum comes to a stop and the grimm flops over. Limp. With black blood gushing from a slash mark over its neck and the long-haired huntsman-in-training nowhere to be found.

The three Beowolves look to each other. Look around, sensing nothing in the way of bloodlust or negative emotions. And while they too possess the keen sense of smell common to most canines, they, like most other grimm, have to come to rely mostly on their innate attraction to the darker emotions of humans to hunt them.

Which is why none of the three notice his blade until it plunges into the back and through the head of one of the three Beowolves.

Ren frees his blade, pushing the corpse of the grimm to the ground. The other two charge him. He ducks under a swipe of black claws, a second disk sliding into his other hand and that disk becoming the second half of the duel, automatic-pistol pair and its blade finding the throat of the attacking Beowolve.

One remaining. He prepares to engage the last of the Beowolves, only for a low-droning hiss to reach his ears from the left.

A distraction. The blur of motion comes from his right. Ren leaps upwards as a massive length of white crashes into the ground from behind the trees, flattening the Beowolve and sending rocks and debris flying. A King Taiju, one with white scales and a body as wide as he is tall. Said body shifts and Ren turns, expecting to find the tip of a tail racing towards him.

Instead, he comes face to face with another snake's head, this one covered in black. He flips over the second head of the snake-grimm, runs down the length of its body, aura coating his feet as the King Taiju flails its body to try and throw him off.

He channels aura into the dust-infused blades on his guns. A sheath of wind wraps around the edge of the right blade. He raises the blade, intent on slicing open the hide of the multi-headed snake grimm, only for an oncoming rush of bared fangs to force him to leap away.

Ren lands, rolls into a crouch. He rises, eyes wide, and takes a step back.

Three sets of eyes leer down at him. Each of its necks easily twenty meters long, the three-headed King Taiju emerges fully from the forest. Two of its heads are a pearly, eye-catching white while the third is soft, all too easy to miss, black.

"… Nora?" Ren calls for his friend in a shaky voice. Less for backup and more to make sure she is safe.

One of the white snake heads lashes forward. And it is promptly brained by the flying body of a Beowolve.

"I'm heeere~!" Nora Valkyrie appears at his side in a flash. Not an actual flash but a metaphorical flash. She takes one look at the King Taiju and makes a confused face. "What the? Since when do these guys have three heads?"

"They gain more heads as they grow older," Ren explains, returning his bladed-guns to their compact form and returning those in turn to his sleeves.

He rolls his fingers, clenches his hands into fists and raises his arms. The invisible shroud surrounding him breaks, collapses inward and seeps through his bones and muscles, aura strengthening his body, his eyes glowing ever so faintly with the tell-tale light of one using reinforcement.

The other white-colored head of the tri-headed serpent lashes forward. Nora meets it with her hammer, the head crashing off to the side with a sizable dent through its skull.

The black-colored head strikes at them. Ren deflects it with a palm strike. A visible wave of force ripples through the darkened scales, the mask splintering as the head flops to the ground.

The last head lunges with fangs bared. And the two partners both dodge in synch, both taking position on either side of the King Taiju's neck.

Nora raises her hammer. Ren plants his feet. There is no need for any communication or planning between the two. They move with a silent coordination born from years of closeness. At almost the exact same time, hammer and fists both meet the pale-white scales, the length of white exploding into pink and crimson as their combined strike pulverizes the neck of the grimm into a fine mist of pink, the decapitated head tumbling across the forest floor.

"So, that bad feeling gone now?" Nora asks with a grin, collapsing her weapon.

Ren smiles at his longtime friend. "Not quite, but let's just focus on our objective. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Right!" Nora pumps her arm. "Our objective of… er… finding a way out of this forest-!"

"Proceeding to the temple…"

"-going to the temple and bringing back a… a rock-?!"

"Retrieving one of the relics…"

"-getting one of those relics and…!"

"Returning to the cliffs."

"Our objective of going to the temple, getting one of those relics and returning to the cliff!" Nora exclaims, pointing… nowhere really. With that, she sets off. "Onward!"

"… Nora, that's the wrong way."

* * *

"Do you even know which way we're going?!"

"Um… yes? Kind of? Sort of?"

"Sort of? _Sort of_? Please _do not_ tell me you have been leading us on a wild goose chase!"

Ruby winces as her partner redoubles their effort to glare a hole through the back of her skull. The heiress follows just behind her, a distinct twitch under her eye. The one without the scar.

"What, me?!" No way!" She turns to Weiss, attempting to reassure her with a shaky smile. "Of course I know where we're going… I think?"

Critical failure. Weiss's lips twist into a frown. Ruby can already hear the yelling.

"Then _please,_ do share with me how you've _magically_ obtained the location of the relics. Because, as far as I can tell, at this rate, the only thing we've found, and are going to find, are more of the grimm!"

And there it is. The yelling. Oh god why. "N-no, this is the right way! Or at least I think it's the right way… There was that explosion earlier and- oh hey look, grimm!"

A black beast lumbers out from behind a tree, a monstrous wolf with the vague shape of a man. It barely has time to let out a confused growl before Ruby falls upon it, bisecting the grimm with a crack of her sniper-scythe.

"Really?! That's where you've been leading us?!" Weiss sneers. She stabs her rapier through the mouth of an attacking Beowolve, rolling under the lunge of another. A fireball engulfs the beast and its form soon dissolves into a mass of black smoke. "If you don't mind, I would like to avoid being exploded by some moron two days in a row!"

"W-well, it looks like whoever's over there already exploded, so…"

Weiss glares for another moment. Then, a sigh. She rubs her brow and shakes her head.

"Why did my partner have to be a child?"

It is a statement of frustration, muttered under her breath. The heiress probably didn't even mean for Ruby to hear it. Even so…

They emerge from the forest. One, five, ten in total with a final eleventh towering over the rest. Beowolves, a decent sized pack led by an Alpha. Ruby ejects the emptied cartridge from her weapon, feeding Crescent Rose a fresh magazine and holding the sniper-scythe at the ready.

This is it.

This is what she has been waiting for. A chance to prove herself. To show Weiss she's _not_ just a child and that she does know what she's doing(for the most part(when it comes to fighting at least)). To show her that there's more to her than just some stupid girl who knocked over her luggage and exploded her… and pushed Naruto onto her…

… Huh. Now that she thinks about it, for some reason, she feels more annoyed about the last one than ashamed or embarrassed. Weird.

A Beowolve leaps into the air. Ruby pulls the trigger. She meets the grimm halfway, slicing it from shoulder to hip, the recoil setting her down in the middle of the pack. Silver eyes flick from grimm to grimm as they move to surround her.

A smirk.

Click. The first Beowolve to lunge at her gets a hole blasted through its torso. The recoil throws her back and Ruby flips, flips into a kick, downing a second Beowolve with a stomp to the side of the head. Another press of the trigger sends Crescent Rose awhirl, the spinning sniper-scythe forming a barrier of lashing crimson, two more Beowolves falling to the ground, both sliced clean in two. She leaps over the charge of the sixth Beowolve, firing a shot into the back of its head. The recoil propels her upwards. Ruby flips, driving Crescent Rose's blade into the side of a tree and swinging herself onto the trunk.

" _For tree climbing, the biggest hurdle is just sending the aura to your feet."_

It takes only a moment. A half-second of concentration. Ruby tests her footing, finding the soles of her boots stuck firm to the bark.

" _You'll be fine."_

She smiles and kicks the blade free from the trunk. The head of the sniper-scythe folds back, the barrel shortening as the weapon shifts into its rifle form and Ruby takes aim at the grimm below.

Three shots crack through the air. Three of the Beowolves fall, their corpses already dissolving into rose petals. A fourth shot bounces off the armor of the Alpha and the giant grimm grabs one of the smaller Beowolves, hurling it through the air at her.

Ruby leaps off the tree, propelling herself forward with another shot as Crescent Rose unfolds back into its scythe-form, slicing the oncoming Beowolve in half on her way down. She lands in a crouch. Vanishes into a flurry of rose petals as the Alpha Beowolve digs its claws into the spot where she just stood. Ruby bursts out of the storm of crimson to deliver a strike to the large grimm's right leg, Crescent Rose's blade only managing to chip off a small piece of the armor.

Glowing red eyes turn on her. Again, the silver-eyed girl disappears into rose petals and the Alpha's claws find only fading motes of crimson.

Gunshots crack through the air, each hitting the damaged armor at the Alpha's knee. The bullets all bounce off the bone-like armor, but each shot manages to find that same, damaged piece of armor. The Alpha chases after her, lunging at her with fang and claw, never finding anything more than fading rose petals as she empties a magazine into the armor at its joint.

The chip becomes a crack and the crack becomes an opening. The white armor falls away to reveal the black fur underneath. Escaping out from under another one of the Alpha's attempts to swat her, Ruby transforms Crescent Rose into its scythe form. The trigger clicks empty and yet still her slash carries enough force to slice the grimm's leg clean off.

The Alpha falls. Ruby rushes forward, rushes up the trunk of a tree and into the air, her cloak painting a trail of crimson behind her. The blade of her sniper-scythe snaps forward into the form of a more traditional war-scythe and she dives downward, the tip of Crescent Rose aimed straight for the back of the downed Alpha.

A blur leaps from behind a tree.

The last of the Beowolves rams into the side of the Alpha, the smaller grimm hitting the larger with just enough force to shove it out of the way. Crescent Rose instead impales the lesser grimm, her momentum digging the blade deep into the earth.

Ruby tugs on her weapon. The sniper-scythe doesn't budge. The trigger clicks empty and her eyes widen. And the Beowolve lets out a dying whimper that manages to somehow sound triumphant.

"Oh no."

The Alpha rises, its eyes alight with a vengeful crimson. It raises an arm, each clawed finger longer across than her torso. The greater grimm lets out a howl.

And that howl becomes a pitiful whimper as the tip of a pure white greatsword protrudes from its chest.

"How did I just _know_ something like this was going to happen?"

A familiar female voice reaches her ears. The Alpha Beowolve is lifted and tossed to the side to reveal the form of the greatsword's wielder. It is an arm. Her savior is nothing more than a disembodied arm, covered in an ice-like armor the very same shade as that of the sword it is holding. Where the arm _should_ have been attached to a body is instead a glowing white glyph, hovering mid-air, bathing the forest in a faint white light.

"Oh, wait, I know!" Weiss walks over to her, arms crossed with sour look. "It is because you are _so_ childish _and_ dim-witted _and_ hyperactive and don't even get me started on your fighting style."

A small huff. Her expression softens ever so slightly and she looks away. "And I suppose I can be a bit… _difficult_."

The arm plants the greatsword into the dirt. It hovers closer, takes the sniper-scythe and frees it with a good yank, handing the weapon over to its master before it and its sword vanishes into flakes of snow like stardust.

"But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together," Weiss says, offering the sniper-scythe to her. "So if _you_ quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby says in a sheepish tone, taking her weapon back. "I just want you to know I can do this."

"You're fine. Now, can you explain why in the world you would want to go _towards_ that explosion?"

"Well, you remember how Naruto got launched off the cliff and kind of got eaten by that really big bird?" Ruby asks.

The heiress's expression sours at the mention of the whiskered boy. She narrows her eyes. "Yes. And?"

"Naruto's actually, like, super, super strong so I don't think he was actually eaten!" Ruby explains, waving her hands for emphasis. "Yeah, like last night he made all these clones and he can use all these cool fancy wind and fire powers without any dust! And he's really good at controlling his aura and he can even use earth and lightning and, uh, what was the last one again-?!"

A sharp snapping interrupts her gushing. "Focus. Focus! What does that have to do with the explosion? Do you think it was him?"

"Yes!" Ruby nods. "I was thinking maybe he used his wind powers to make that big bird fly over to the temple and then some fire jutsu to make that big explosion."

"That idiot _is_ far more competent than he looks, so it wouldn't surprise me…" Weiss grumbles, biting her thumb nail. Her eyes widen. "Wait, if he set off that explosion right above the temple that means everyone will know where the relics are! They're all probably already on their way there!"

"So?"

"What if there aren't enough relics for everyone?! We have to get over there _now_!"

A shadow passes overhead. Ruby looks up. And smiles.

"I have an idea!"

* * *

In retrospect, he really shouldn't be getting as upset as he is at his companions' perceived incompetence.

More than likely, prior to arriving at Beacon, neither of them had ever been on an actual mission. A fake one maybe, one or two practice runs just to let them know what to expect in the event they are ever in the wrong time at the wrong place, thrown into an unexpected issue that requires their intervention. But it isn't unreasonable to expect this to be their true experience out in the field.

Not like him. In all honestly, he's probably been taking jobs and contracts since before any of them had even learned to use those crazy, transforming, gun weapons of theirs. It's been six, almost six and a half, years now since he was taught how to survive in the outside world. To him, this 'test' is about as difficult as a multiple choice quiz where you get five submissions for each of the four-choice questions.

No, if anything, _that_ is what's got him so riled up. And that's not something he should be taking out Pyrrha… no matter how stupid of a decision it may have been on her part.

Through the trees and shrubbery, grey pillars become visible in the distance. Jaune smiles and puffs up his chest.

"See, I know you were worrying too much, Naruto!" the older boy says, patting him on the back. "No wonder your hair's already white! We didn't even run into a single grimm on the way here!"

"Well, my hair _was_ blond when I was younger… and I'm pretty sure the reason we haven't ran into any grimm is because I've already killed them all."

"… You used to have blond hair?"

"Whiskers?"

Naruto stops, hearing a familiar voice from just up ahead, beyond a cast of trees and where he knows the relics and the temple to be.

"Boobs?" he calls back, closing his eyes. She's probably already met someone, but better safe than sorry.

"Whiskers!"

"Boobs?" he hears Jaune whisper to him on confusion. A rustle of leaves. The scuff of footsteps. Soon enough, Naruto finds himself swept up into a hug, his face mashed straight into a valley of softness.

"Oooh…" Jaune makes a faint noise of realization.

"Hello," greets a polite voice from behind. Pyrrha.

"Sup!" he hears Yang greet them before addressing him. "What took ya so long? Don't tell me you got held up by some little Beowolves or something."

"Please stop trying to choke me with your boobs." Naruto says. Tries to say. Really it just comes out as a bunch of muffled grunts, every ounce of his considerable willpower funneled towards resisting the urge to fall asleep, the darkness, the softness and the faint smell of citrus all making it very difficult to keep from dozing off in the older girl's embrace.

"Hey, uh, so you're Ruby's sister, right?"

"Yup! That's my baby sister!"

"Uh… right. Seeing as how Naruto started calling me by random girl's names after I called him whiskers, I think I'm going to just go with… Yang. Is that right?"

"Yang Xaio Long, pleasure to meet you! You this idiot's partner?"

"Ah no, I'm partnered with Pyrrha over there."

"Hello again. And, excuse me, Yang? I believe you're somewhat… choking him."

There is a moment of silence. The grip on the back of his head vanishes and Naruto stumbles back, coughing, sucking in great breaths of air. A hand grabs his shoulder to steady him.

"Ah, thanks."

"You're welcome," the owner of the hand says. Pyrrha.

"Didn't you say you were going to punch the next person who hugged you?" Jaune asks, somewhat worried.

"Eh, it'll happen eventually."

"Have you really been keeping your eyes closed this whole time?" Yang asks in an amused tone.

"Not the whole time," Naruto shrugs in the direction of her voice. "Speaking of which, you have a partner right?"

"I do! And I believe the two of you already know each other."

Naruto opens his eyes. Blinks once, twice as his eyes adjust to the light. He looks behind Yang to find Blake, the cat faunus standing just a bit behind the sunny blond, almost like a shadow.

Their eyes meet. He looks from the top of her head, to Yang and back to her.

 _Have you told her yet?_

Blake shakes her head ever so slightly and tilts her head back at the temple.

 _No… maybe after the exam._

Then, she looks to Yang and gives him an apologetic look.

 _By the way… sorry in advance._

… _What did you do?_

"So you ran into these two on the way over?" Yang asks him as they step out from the tree line and head towards the temple.

"More like on the way back…" Naruto grumbles, tossing an irritated glance at the two sheepish partners. "I already have a relic."

"Only reason I came back is because one of them can't use their aura and the other can't use their weapon," he explains, looking at Pyrrha and Jaune respectively, the latter going to grab a relic from the temple.

"Huh? He hurt his arm or something?"

"Sure, let's go with that." Naruto deadpans. He looks over to Pyrrha. "Speaking of which, how's your aura doing?"

"It's recovering, but slowly," Pyrrha says. "This is the first time I've ever had my aura so heavily depleted. It will be some time before it's fully restored."

"Waaait a second!" Yang puts her hands on her hips. She leans towards the red-haired girl, squinting her eyes. Then, her eyebrows shoot up. "You're Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl!"

"Invincible Girl?" Naruto perks a brow.

"Oh, it's just a name…"

"Just a name?!" Yang blanches. "You've never lost a match!"

"Oh? That's pretty impressive," He looks to the girl with a slight smirk. "We should fight some time."

Before she can respond to his challenge, Yang nudges him with her elbow, giving him a teasing smirk. "Wow, first me and now Pyrrha? You know, when you hit on girls, the 'hit' part is supposed to be metaphorical, right?"

"… What? Why would you hit someone if you don't want to hit them? That doesn't even make any sense."

"… Huh. You and Ruby are actually kind of similar, you know that?"

"Hey. I take offense to that."

"Well, if you would like to have a match some time, I would be happy to accommodate you." Pyrrha says, bringing a hand to her chest. "I must admit, I am rather interested as well. I've never met such a powerful wind user before."

"Oh yeah," Yang pokes his shoulder. "Can't you just give her some of your aura like you did me?"

"You can transfer your aura to others?"

Naruto crosses his arms, tilts his head and squints his eyes as he tries to think of a way to explain it without getting too technical. "Er… kind of? Really there are two big problems in this case."

He raises two fingers as he looks to Yang. "First, unless you've got a fire affinity, the seals going to take a really long time to draw up. In our case, it was a bit different because of your semblance doing most of the heavy lifting."

Then, he looks to Pyrrha. "Second, I'd have to completely suppress my aura in the meantime. It'd basically be doing what you did, except instead of your aura being at full strength, you'd have to work with whatever aura that manages to filter through the seal while leaving me in the same situation as you. It'd be manageable, but again, just getting you out of here would probably be faster than drawing up the seal."

"Hm." Yang crosses her arms and nods in understanding. Then, she tilts her head. "Wait, does that mean you took that nut shot without any aura to block it?"

Naruto shrugs. "Kind of. I'm also a bit tougher than most people, so it's not like it was that bad. Sort of. It was still pretty bad."

They stop in front of the temple. Yang goes to join her partner. Pyrrha folds her hands and looks to him.

"Still, that is rather impressive," she says. "From what I've heard, aura-transferring technology has been researched for decades, but they've been unable to make any significant progress."

"That so?" Naruto perks a brow. "The whole 'refilling someone else's aura' was really just kind of an unintended side effect. It wasn't really what I was aiming for but it ended up just sort of happening. Honestly, I doubt it'd work with anyone's aura except for mine."

"May I ask what the original intent was?"

"Healing. I've got crazy amounts of aura and a healing factor to go with it that pretty much lets me shrug off most things that be career, or life, ending injuries for most people. Downside is that it also means I can't do stuff that requires a lot of precision like most medical techniques. The seal was one I developed to try and compensate for that, but it ended up having that sort of an unintended side effect."

He shoves his hands into his pockets and makes his way over to Yang and Blake. "Hey, you already get a relic?"

"Yeah, we got here a bit before you guys but…" Yang purses her lips. She looks over to Blake, waving her arm. "Blake? Hellooo~? What're you looking at?"

Blake fails to acknowledge her partner, her gaze fixed worriedly on something in the sky. Without a word, she points upward.

Yang looks up. Naruto looks up. In the distance, a faint dot of red and a faint dot of white are visible, hanging from the talons of a winged shadow.

"Hey!" Naruto crosses his arms with a chuckle. "That's the same thing I did!"

Both partners black and yellow give him a look. As though neither are able to decide whether to call such a feat insane or stupid. They then look to each other and return their eyes to the approaching shadow.

"Should we… I don't know… help them?" Blake asks.

"They should be fine," Naruto dismisses her concern. "I mean, you guys all got launched from the cliffs, right? They should have _some_ sort of landing strategy."

"That's true… but…"

The red dot falls. A faint screaming can be heard in the distance, growing closer and louder with every second.

"She's not stopping… or slowing down…" Blake notes.

"Whiskers…"

"She'll be fine~."

"Whiskers…" Yang repeats with an increased urgency.

"That scythe of hers has got some pretty insane recoil," Naruto says, watching the silver-eyed girl drop like a rock with a flat look. "She should be able to just use that to bleed her momentum off…"

"Still not stopping…" Blake says with a faint tinge of worry.

"… Please? Naruto?"

Naruto uncrosses his arms with a sigh. He brings his hands together in a ram seal with a silent prayer that this won't become a regular occurrence.

He vanishes into a flicker of golden flame, reappearing just a bit away, directly underneath the falling girl. He stomps his foot. A blade of wind turns the ground beneath his feet to sand. Mismatched blues look up to meet bright silver, the panic and fear in her expression melting away at the sight of him, replaced by joy and relief.

That joy and relief is in turn banished as Naruto steps out of the way, allowing the red-cloaked projectile to face-plant straight into the sand.

"MMMM! MMMMMM!" comes from the girl buried waist-deep in the sand.

Naruto grabs her leg, pulls her from the bed of sand like a weed and unceremoniously drops her onto the ground.

For a moment, Ruby Rose lies there, face down on the ground. Unmoving. Unresponsive. Then, a twitch. In a flurry of motion, she pushes herself up, spits out a mouthful of sand and leaps to her feet, ineffectually pounding her fists on his chest with tears welling up in her eyes.

"You jerk! You big, mean jerk! I can't believe you just me let call like that! How could you?! You were right there! Why'd you step out of the way! That was so mean! Why didn't you catch me?!"

"Pretty sure you just answered your own question there."

"Ruby!" Yang calls, spreading her arms for a hug as she runs over.

Ruby stops in her feeble assault and turns to her sister, her anger already long forgotten. "Yang!"

"Nora!"

""Wha-!""

Both sisters recoil, the newcomer popping up between them from out of nowhere. Naruto perks a brow, his eyes already closed.

"Jumpy," he greets her with a nod. "When'd you get here?"

"Just now~!" Nora chirps. "Oh hey, it's you…! Erm… I know it has an 'a' and a 'u'… six letters long… abs-guy?"

"… Naruto?"

"Fishcake!"

"Fishcake?" Yang asks, the smirk audible in her voice.

"Yeah! Naruto means 'fishcake'! Well, I mean it can also mean 'maelstrom' and that's kind of cool but it also means 'fishcake'! You know, those cute little thing they put on ramen-?! And, oh my god, you've even got the white hair and the little spiral on your back! _That is so adorable!"_

"… Right. So where's flower boy? You two together?"

"T-together?" for whatever reason, the word 'together' seems to put the girl off balance.

"Ren's the guy with black hair from the lockers, right?" Yang recalls. "Good for you! I bet the two of you are going to make a great pair."

"I mean, yeah, we're together, but not together-together," Nora seems almost to mumble to herself.

"Wait, so are we talking partner-partners or dating-partners here?" Ruby asks, discarding any air of subtly with all the social elegance of a bulldozer.

""Yes."" Naruto and Yang both say at the same time.

"Oh, w-well, you see, the thing about that is, it's like- oh they look, the things!" With that, Nora departs with a speed that leaves even Ruby blinking in surprise.

With a smirk, Naruto opens his eyes again to find Ren jogging out of the forest. The older boy stops before them. He puts his hands on his knees to try and catch his breath.

"N-Nora?"

"Over there," Yang points.

"T-thank you…"

He sucks in another great breath and makes after the orange-haired ball of energy.

"Sooo, I don't get it," Ruby says, looking to her friend and her older sister. "Are they dating or…?"

Naruto rubs the side of his head. "I think jumpy's got a thing for flower boy, but honestly I can't tell if it goes both ways. That guy's surprisingly hard to read."

"Flower boy?"

"Ren means lotus."

"So she got partnered up with the guy she's got a crush on?" Yang says, looking over at them. "Good for her."

"Meanwhile, I get Weiss…" Ruby huffs.

The slight glance towards him does not go unnoticed. Naruto perks a brow. "What?"

"Oh, uh!" Ruby's gaze darts away and she takes a moment, fumbling over her words. "I mean, what about you? Who's your partner?"

"Haven't got one, not going to get one," Naruto smirks, holding two fingers up in a 'v'.

Yang lets out a sigh. She puts a hand on his head and ruffles his hair. Naruto bats her hand away with a grunt.

"Actually, speaking of which," he looks around. "Where is your partner?"

A faint cry comes from above.

"How could you leave me?!"

"I told you to jump!" Ruby shouts back.

Blake comes over to join their growing group. The four of them watch as the Nevermore circles overhead. "She's going to fall…"

"Hey, what's Jaune doing?" Ruby asks, noticing the armored boy climbing up a tree.

"I believe he is planning on catching Weiss when she falls," Pyrrha explains, coming to join their viewing party.

"Think it's actually going to work?" Naruto asks.

"Not particularly."

"Well, this should be fun to watch."

"Aren't you worried about her safety?" Pyrrha asks, avoiding his gaze and fiddling with her fingers. "Perhaps it would be better- safer, I mean, for you to catch Weiss instead?"

"She should be fine," Naruto dismisses the red-haired girl's concerns. "She should be able to use her glyphs or some dust to slow her fall. Either way, I don't think she's as dumb as red over there."

"Hey!" Ruby shouts at him. "You're dumb!"

"Yeah?" he gives her a flat stare. "Then how come you didn't just use the recoil from your scythe to slow your fall when you jumped off the Nevermore?"

"That… is a good question!"

"Well~, maybe she just wanted to fall into the arms of a certain, cute male-friend of hers!" Yang gushes, slinging an arm over her little sister's shoulders. "Aww~, is my little-baby sister finally graduating from weapons to boys?"

"Shut up, Yang!"

Naruto takes one look at the bickering sisters. Concludes he has neither the ability nor the care to actually decode the older sister's words. Instead he turns back to Pyrrha. "Anyway, yeah. Glyph is actually a crazy powerful semblance, one of the few inherited semblances outside of the Island of the Elemental Isles. She should be fine."

"If you say so…"

Sure enough, the speck of white falls. Like a rock. Without any sign or hint of slowing down.

"I mean…" Naruto's eye twitches as he watches her fall. "She could use her Glyphs as a net to slow herself down…"

She keeps falling.

"… or she could use them to lower her weight so she falls slower…"

Still falling.

"… or she could even do what I did with some dust, use some wind manipulation to control her fall. Anything really."

"…'

"USE YOUR DAMN SEMBLAAAAAANCE!"

Jaune leaps from a tree branch, catching Weiss mid-air in a princess carry. It might have been heroic. Romantic, even. Alas, any pretense of heroism or romance is dashed as gravity once again asserts its dominance over the two teens, sending them plummeting down towards the unforgiving earth.

A sigh. Naruto slouches over, his shoulders dropping as he palms his face and shakes his head.

"You get lover boy, I'll get sneeze," He says in a tone equally as defeated as it is disappointed.

Pyrrha nods, already taking aim with her spear.

Naruto removes his palm, straightens back up and vanishes in a burst of wind and aura. Pyrrha hurls her spear just after, aimed in the same general direction as him but just a few degrees lower. While Weiss had apparently completely forgotten about the various uses of her semblance, her dress still affords her more air resistance than Jaune and, as such, she falls that much flower than the armored boy.

One arm around her back and one arm under her legs, Naruto snatches Weiss out of the air, his momentum and another burst of wind carrying onto the branch of a nearby tree. Below him, there is a 'thunk', and then a grunt, and then a sigh as the spear pins Jaune to the tree trunk by his hood.

"You… actually caught me?" Weiss mutters, giving him a confused look.

"I'll send you the bill in the mail."

Naruto leaps down from the tree and sets her down. Ruby rushes over to rejoin her partner.

"Weiss!" she beams, her hands balled into tiny fists of joy. "See, I told you it was a good idea to just fly over!"

"' **Good idea' my foot!** " Weiss all but shrieks in response. She jabs a finger at Naruto. "If _he_ hadn't caught me, I could have been seriously injured! You could have been seriously injured! We _both_ could have been seriously injured!"

"Hey, why are you complaining?! He actually caught you!"

Naruto leaves the two partners to bicker, making his way back up the trunk of the tree.

"Yo," he gives Jaune a wave. "How's it going, Jessica."

"Eh, you know," Jaune sighs. "Just… hanging around."

"There, there. Maybe next time."

Naruto grabs Jaune by the back of his armor and yanks out the spear. He tosses it back to Pyrrha and hops back down, setting Jaune back on his feet.

A screech comes from overhead, the Nevermore circling above them. Naruto holds up a hand. Closes his right eye, sticking out his tongue as he centers the distant form of the flying grimm between his thumb and index finger.

"This is a bit far, buuut~…"

He brings his hands together. Static sparks, jumping from finger to finger. A casing of wind wraps around the electricity, swirling air feeding the current and condensing into a sphere of cracking yellow.

"What are you doing?" Blake asks as she and Yang join them.

"If we leave it, that thing's just going to chase us the entire way back." Naruto explains without ever looking away from the circling Nevermore. "Better to take care of it now."

He pulls his hands apart. The orb twists into a spear of chirping light, the yellow darkening into a twilight orange. Naruto takes the spear of crackling sunlight into his right hand. Lowers his stance. Draws back his arm. And hurls the spear into the sky.

It goes wide, missing the airborne grimm completely.

"You missed?" Jaune gaps.

Naruto shrugs, bringing his hands together to form another spear. "It really that much of a surprise?"

"Kind of. Really I was expecting you to hit it on the first try."

"Well, excuuuse me for having crap aim," Naruto grumbles. "Can barely see anything out of my right eye and my lefts not that much better. I can compensate with reinforcement and my dynamic vision seems to be okay, but I'm probably going to need to get glasses eventually."

"Seriously?" Jaune says.

"Again, is it really that much of a surprise?"

"Well, yeah! You're super fast, you've got all these cool, elemental powers-"

"And you can make fully corporeal clones," Blake adds. "Which return their memories to you…"

"And you can spontaneously create weapons," Yang picks up. "And you're super strong. And you've got an insane healing factor."

"Yeah, all of that stuff," Jaune nods. "I just kind of figured 20-20 vision came with the package."

"Well, it's not like Ozpin invited me to come to Beacon 'cause he thought I was nice…"

He hurls the second spear at the Nevermore, again completely missing.

Yang smirks.

"Damn you suck."

"Shut up."

"May I?" Pyrrha asks, holding out her hand.

Naruto forms a third spear and hands it to her. "Go for it."

Pyrrha takes the lightning spear, a faint black static covering her hand as she draws back her arm and takes aim.

It is like night and day, the difference between his own ineffectual throw and the red-haired girl's perfect form. Lightning flashes across the sky. The spear traces a length of twilight through the sky, seeming almost to home in on the flying grimm. It finds its mark with a thunderous crack, the sky flashing bright white for only an instant before the Nevermore falls, smoke trailing off its form as it plummets into the forest below.

Naruto whistles. "Nice shot."

"Yeah! Way to go, Pyrrha!" Jaune cheers, holding up a hand. With a reserved smile, Pyrrha gives him the high five.

"Huh… well that was easy," Yang muses, flipping her hair back. "Seems a bit anti-climatic to me."

"This _is_ something we've spent years training for," Blake points out. "Just what were you expecting?"

"I dunno," Yang shrugs. "Maybe some super big, high-tension fight where we only really manage to win by coming together as a team."

"Please don't jinx it," Naruto grumbles.

This whole 'initiation' is already starting to feel a little too much like the typical mission he'd take as the Demon Fox.

Yang goes to join Ruby and Weiss at the ruined temple. Jaune and Pyrrha go to introduce themselves to Nora and Ren. Naruto watches them go, slipping his hands into his pocket, his gaze drifting over the red and white partners.

A silent sigh escapes his lips.

His eyes close. His fingers wrap around the gold pawn resting in his pocket, gripping it like an anchor to stop his thoughts from drifting away from him. The fatigue from his absolutely brilliant idea of staying up all last night finally begins to catch up to him, a numbness tugging at his thoughts, that faint chill burrowing deeper into his limbs.

He takes one hand out of his pocket. Grips his arm as his gaze drops to his feet. Everything has been going well. Even with the slight hiccup of him running into Jaune and Pyrrha, even that was probably for the best. Now, all that's left is…

" _I've already wasted too much time,'_ he thinks, looking up at the group of would-be students ahead of him, all smiles and cheer in the face of what is sure to be a bright future. _'… Jaune and Pyrrha should be able to make it back to the cliffs just fine if they stick with the rest of them.'_

' _It's time to go.'_

"Aren't you going to join them?"

A voice stops him. Blake. Having stayed behind alongside him, the disguised faunus folds her arms over her stomach, looking over at the rest of the gathered students.

"That should be my line," Naruto glances at her out of the corner of his eye. "Your patner's over there, isn't she? You're lucky. I don't think she's the type to care about something like whether or not you're a faunus."

"Were… did you want her to be your partner?"

"No. I don't want a partner. Period. It doesn't matter who. Really, I'm hoping I don't end up on any team either."

"You do realize Professor Ozpin will probably just assign you a partner once you return to the cliffs."

A shrug. "First person I meet eyes with after I land in the forest, who doesn't already have a partner. So far, I'm 0 for 8. With any luck, it'll stay that way."

Blake tilts her head and moves to stand next to him. "Are you really that worried about getting partnered with someone?"

"Yup. Nothing good's going to come of me being stuck with someone for the next four years."

"That's rather reckless of you," she says. "Two heads are better than one… or at least multiple copies of the one. Even if you have your clones, it couldn't hurt to have some back up."

"Well…" Naruto sucks in a breath and blows it out, careful to keep his expression blank. To keep the bitterness from seeping in. "I haven't needed that for the past… three years? Four years, maybe? Can't remember the last time I actually needed someone to get me out of a jam."

It just goes the same way it always does.

He has a mission. He tries to complete the mission without using his tails. He fails miserably and at that point, it's just a matter of pulling out more tails and more aura until he has the raw power to pound whatever it is to dust.

The White Fang Lieutenant. Torchwick's little robbery. Like clockwork, something always inevitably ends up going wrong. The dust armor. Wolfie, and then the witch. And he always ends up falling back on his tails to beat it, or at least survive it.

It wasn't always that way. But it is the way it is now.

And then, Ozpin says he can't use his tails. Ozpin says he can't let anyone figure out his identity. And Ozpin wants him to have a partner.

What a sick joke.

Even if he ignores the possibility of his identity being exposed, there's still the matter of the danger said partner would be in. It's the perfect recipe for disaster. And in the end, it'll come down to him to make the final choice.

Hold back and risk letting his partner die. Or don't and be forced to flee the school anyway.

That question isn't one that needs to be answered. Even he isn't so far gone that he'd let someone needlessly throw away their lives to 'save him'.

"Still…" Blake's voice draws him away from his thoughts. The older girl gives him a concerned look. "It couldn't hurt to have someone else watch your back for you."

"It's not 'me getting hurt' that I'm worried about," Naruto says with another small sigh. He closes his eyes. "Anyway, I've already got my relic. I'm heading back."

"Alone? Weren't you going to escort those two back to the cliffs?"

"They should be fine with you guys," Naruto shrugs. "There's enough of you, right."

He cracks open his left eye and begins to count. "I mean, you have more than enough people here. All of you together, that's eight people right? I doubt… doubt you need a…"

No.

It has to just be a coincidence. This doesn't actually count, right? There's no way.

"Is something wrong?" Blake asks with worry, probably noticing the sudden change in his demeanor.

"N-no…" Naruto chokes out. A hand comes to rest over his stomach. "No, it's just nerves…"

Yes, it has to be a coincidence. Paranoia. He's just finding the signs because he's looking for them. After all, everything's going so well. All according to plan. Sure, he ran into Jaune and Pyrrha and that set him back a bit, but it was nothing he needed his tails to handle.

Because there's no way…

No way-

" _ **-############!"**_

An inhuman shriek pierces the air.

"Guh!" Blake falls to a knee, clutching at her ears beneath the ribbon. "What-?!"

A giant blur leaps from the forest, from the very same place where the Nevermore fell. It lands, carving a straight path through the forest towards them, toppling trees and shaking the earth as it moves, a second leap delivering it to their location. The great shadow descends just behind the abandoned temple, a wave of force, dust and dirt announcing its arrival.

He throws out his arm, a current of wind causing the oncoming debris to bend around them. It expands to blow away the choking cloud of dust away from them, away from the group still at the temple and away from the figure rising from the shattered earth.

It stands upon its hind legs, the tallest among them barely even reaching its knees.

The body is twisted, emaciated yet muscular, bestial yet humanoid. The ragged grey pelt reaches only to its waist, leathery black skin drawn taunt over jagged bone and burgeoning muscle.

Each arm expends long past its knees, the charred and broken form of the Nevermore twitching in the grasp of its right claw.

A mane of frayed black fur covers its shoulders and upper back. A crown of twisted horns rests atop its head. And two pits of ravenous crimson glare at the gathered students from behind a mask darker than a starless night.

Naruto stares at the beast. He stares in horror, in frustration, in such mind-bending rage that it goes full circle into an eerie calm. And with a great breath of air, he channels the sum total of his frustration into a single shout.

"Oh, FUUUUUUUU-"

* * *

 **AN: So, I'm sure some people are disappointed Naruto didn't end up paired with any of RWBY. A more creative writer may have been able to take something like that and run with it. Alas, I am only me. See the disclaimer on my profile. That being said, I do have something in mind and I hope you all will enjoy what I have planned.**

 **For this chapter:**

 **-The Ren/Nora and Ruby/Weiss scenes? How were they? Honestly, I'm the kind of reader who'd stop caring about a scene the second it doesn't involve Naruto, but as a writer I feel like doing those scenes helps me get a better feel for the characters.**


	14. Chapter 14: Maelstrom(Part I)

"It's mask… is black?"

Weiss Schnee stares in shock at the towering grimm. And for a moment, the strange coloring of the beast's mask, a complete and solid black, distracts her from its sheer size.

It looks nothing like any grimm she has ever seen.

Each grimm she has fought so far, every incarnation of darkness, be it the Arma Gigas her father had her fight for his permission to attend Beacon Academy or even the Beowolves they encountered earlier in the forest, all of them share one thing in common. That she can find some word, some comparison to which the general features of the grimm can fit.

Beowolves and wolves. Nevermores and ravens. Ursai and bears. The Arma Gigas and a knight.

But this… this thing with the head of a stag, the arms of a monkey and the legs of a dog. Even ignoring that she can't even tell from this distance whether the cartilage poking out from its sternum is just armor or is its _actual ribcage_ , ignoring the _fungus_ she can seegrowing amidst the matted fur and flaps of skin, ignoring that its mask is a soulless, jet-black that seems almost to draw in the light, that is what scares her most about the grimm in front of her.

That the only word she can think of to describe it is 'monster'.

The monster moves. It drops the still-twitching form of the Nevermore at its feet. Chucks of the giant, raven-esque grimm are missing in the form of what look like _bite marks_. The black-masked grimm holds its arms at its sides and raises its head, jaw unhinging to reveal cavern of jagged fangs. Weiss holds her rapier at the ready, all of her would-be classmates raising their weapons as well.

" _ **##########-!"**_

A second shriek rolls over the Emerald Forest.

And their eyes all go wide those fangs pierce into the body of the broken Nevermore.

Sounds fill the air, of tearing and ripping, of the wet and bloody crunching as the black-masked grimm feasts on the body of its kin. Her breakfast threatens to escape her stomach. Weiss slaps a hand over her mouth to catch it. Someone behind her is not so lucky, the sound of wrenching just audible over the _crunch-crunch-crunch_ of each bite.

The monster doesn't even appear to chew, swallowing whole each mouthful of feathers and meat and bone.

And with each bite, its body swells.

Muscles bloat and balloon. The leathery hide stretches taunt. Fur grows and twists, splattered, black blood matting it against dark-grey skin.

Its right arm bursts in mass. The muscles expand, almost eclipsing even the main body is size, the monstrous claw more than large enough to engulf even the tallest among them in its grasp. There is a popping and clicking as the bones adjust to the new form of the limb, a plumage of razor-sharp feathers bursting from under the skin in a rupture of gore.

In mere seconds, over half of the Nevermore disappear into the gullet of the cannibalistic grimm, the monster swelling in size with each bite. The students are stunned into silence, none of them able to turn their eyes away from the bloody spectacle.

With black blood and chunks of flesh dripping from its maw, the black beast raises its head. Crimson eyes turn to the students and it parts its jaw-

And is promptly smashed in the face by several hundred gallons of water.

"uuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"

Naruto leaps over her, landing in front of them, between them and the monster with wide, bloodshot eyes. Raw frustration gushes from his lips in the form of an incomprehensible scream.

"-UUUUUUUUUUU-uhah?"

It is enough to jolt her out of her stupor.

A quick leap carries her to his side. She flicks the chamber at the base of her rapier. Electricity arcs across the edge, dust channeling through a thin hollow in the blade. A swift thrust launches the lightning forward. The current leaps from the tip of her rapier onto the water covering the monstrous grimm, a net of cackling light wrapping around the black beast and pinning it in place.

The screaming stops to give to a quick sound of surprise, mismatched blues looking to her in shock. As though he expected her to be stunned into inaction like the rest of their classmates. Their eyes meet. His eyes narrow.

"Wind! Fire!" Naruto jabs a finger at the black beast and jerks his hand back into a fist. "Blast it to hell!"

"Right!"

This time, she uses the dust with her semblance. Weiss throws her free hand forward, a crimson glyph blooming to life in front of them. Naruto thrusts his palm forward, a stream of air blooming into a firestorm of force as it passes through the glyph. The ignited winds crash into the black-masked beast, bathing it in heat and flames until the towering form of the beast disappears into a towering pillar of smoke.

The flames disperse. The glyph fades. She lowers her arm and, for a moment, Weiss regards the younger boy at her side, his gaze set forward with a grave look in his mismatched blues, his form tense and ready to burst into action at a moment's notice.

"Yeah! Way to go, Weiss, Naruto! That was awesome!"

Then, she looks behind them to her 'partner', the younger girl cheering with stars in her eyes.

Weiss returns a dry stare, In a single word, she summarizes the feelings swirling about in her chest.

"Switch-"

"MOVE!"

A forceful push from the side cuts her off. The shove throws her off her feet, throws her to safety as the monster bursts from the smoke and descends like a dark meteor, Naruto only having enough time to leap upwards as the earth breaks beneath its twisted right arm.

The left arm blurs. Naruto goes for the greatsword at his back. He just manages to put the weapon between him and the claws as they smash into him. The white-haired boy becomes a blur of orange, white and grey as he is hurled backwards, skipping across the ground like a stone over water, disappearing into the trees.

"Naruto!"

"Whiskers!"

" _ **############-!"**_

The beast rips its arm free from the shattered earth, dust and dirt erupting into the air as an unearthly shriek pierces her ears.

It _moves_.

One second the beast's head is thrown back, what may very well have been a roar of triumph echoing from its maw. The next, a shadow of force crashes into and through the ruined temple like a bulldozer. The students scatter. Ruby appears at her side in a burst of rose petals.

"Weiss, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine!" Weiss resists the urge to snap at the girl, anger and annoyance and guilt flooding out from her heart that _if she hadn't let her guard down_ \- "Go check on that damn idiot!"

"Right!"

Her partner vanishes into a whirlwind of crimson. She looks back to see a blaze of gold leap at the dark giant. Her partner's older sister, her hair alight and her eyes red with murderous rage. Her fist slams against the creature's right knee, each punch exploding with the crack of a gunshot.

Black claws descend. A shot from her gauntlets pushes her out of the way. The orange-haired girl, Nora, leaps in, bringing her hammer down on the back of its left leg. It barely budges. A backhand sweep sends her tumbling across the grass. Yang darts back in. A final punch causes the right knee to give with a wet _snap_ and the creature stumbles and falls, crashing onto one knee.

 _Now_. Weiss gets back to her feet. A black glyph appears beneath her and propels her forward. She summons the arm of the Arma Gigas, the armored limb appearing above the downed grimm.

The white greatsword falls. Black blood strays into the air, the blade biting deep into fur and bone. Yet-

" _ **_####_"**_

Black claws grasp the white greatsword. Despite the length of cold steel lodged halfway through its neck, the creature pushes itself up on one arm. Steam pours from the wound. There is a cracking sound as its knee snaps back into place.

And with a flex of its right arm, the greatsword shatters into snow-dust.

Root-like veins emerge from the open wound, pushing out the shards of ice, piercing flesh and pulling the skin back together. In a matter of seconds, the injury sews itself back together before their very eyes.

Crimson lights narrow, focusing on the yellow bruiser.

It rushes her. She tries to duck behind a pillar and that pillar is promptly reduced to a pile of rubble. Black claws flail with all the grace of a rabid animal, turning chunks of dirt and stone into projectiles.

It is a storm of force and motion. Weiss bites her lip with a silent curse. With the creature rampaging like this, there is no way for her to get in close to attack with her rapier. Due to its overwhelming size as well as the abnormal size of its arms, its reach far surpasses any and all of them.

The shotgun shells all but bounce off the grey-hide of the beast as it chases after the fiery blond. She manages to dodge the first two swings. The third manages to clip her, a mere glancing blow from the twisted right arm sending her crashing to the ground. The giant grimm raises its left arm, clawed hand clenched into a fist.

A hand-scythe attached to a ribbon coils around the wrist. The ribbon stretches taunt and the fist falls, just missing its mark as the earth shatters and Yang is sent tumbling to the side.

Before the creature can continue to chase her, A silver arrow trailed by gold shoots across the clearing.

" _ **_####!-"**_

It finds its mark. The silver greatsword impales the beast straight through the eye, its handle fully extended with a chain of ethereal flame attached to the end.

Two cracks, one a hollow clap and the other the unmistakable crack of a gunshot. Two streaks shoot out from the tree line, one led by flickering gold, the other trailed by fluttering red. Gold accelerates with a second burst, rushing past the streak of red, Naruto ripping the silver greatsword from the beast's skull with a spray of black blood as he flies past the giant grimm.

A trail of red leaks from his right eye. A golden flame burns in his left. He flips, digs his feet into the grass to halt his momentum. The soles of his sandals dig two miniature trenches into the field. The greatsword spins, golden flames engulfing the weapon as the blade curves forward into the form of a scythe.

Another burst of wind rockets him forward. Ruby materializes out from the storm of rose petals, sniper-scythe drawn back as she flies like an arrow at the dark giant. Crimson lashes from the front. Gold descends from the back. Twin crescents close on the neck of the giant grimm and the creature's severed head flies upwards, both scythe-wielders landing on either side of the headless body.

It shudders. A curious mixture of ash and crimson petals float up from the bloodless wound. A tremor makes its way from the neck-stump down to each arm, all the way down to its clawed feet.

The giant body pitches forward-

And slams one arm into the ground, driving its claws into the base of its own headless neck.

"It's not dead…" His voice is soft, fevered, not at all surprised as if he had expected it to be the case. He repeats, this time shouting loud enough for them all to hear. "It's not dead! You all have to get out of here!"

Black blood pours, gushes from the creature's own self-inflicted wound, the headless giant's claws digging deep into the base of its neck. With a sickening crunch, the horror rips out everything above the collarbone, bone, flesh and tendon discarded as black blood bubbles up, thickening like mud. Blood and shadow rise from the depression between its shoulders, twisting into a form of a featureless skull, a single red light visible in its depths.

"He's right, we already have the relics!" Ruby adds. "Just run! We don't have to fight this thing! Come on!"

None of them can find it in them to refute her logic. They all make a break for the tree line, all except for one who stands stuck in place, his expression a mixture of frustration and dread, _rage_ and _defiance_ , his mismatched eyes glaring at the once-headless beast and obviously seeing something else.

It only just now dawns on Weiss Schnee that his choice of wording was 'you all' while only her partner had given a definitive 'we'.

' _Oh, no, absolutely not!'_ Weiss thinks, rushing over to him. She already knows just what's going through that head of his. _'Not again.'_

For a moment, his figure overlaps with another. With a form almost a foot shorter, this one with blond-white hair, wrapped from head to toe in a tattered cloak and wielding a black scythe obviously meant for a grown adult.

" _You have to get out of here."_

' _Not this time-!'_

She grabs his shoulder. He jolts and whirls around. His mismatched eyes go wide, as though he had completely forgotten about her existence and just now remembered.

Weiss decides not to comment on it. "Come on. We have to go."

Naruto stares at her for another moment. His gaze drops. It goes to the beast, horns already spouting out the sides of its head, black blood falling away to reveal a jet-black mask. His eyes go back to her, back to the beast, back to her and away. He bites his lip.

"Give me a second," he twirls the scythe, returns it to its compact-sword form and returns it to his back. His hands come together, his index and middle fingers crossed.

"Kage Bunshin-!"

The gold in his left eye flares. Clouds of smoke erupt around them in a chorus of faint pops, the smoke clearing to reveal a small army of Narutos surrounding them, each identical to the whiskered boy next to her, minus the weapon.

They pour forward, the clones moving to engage the dark beast. Her view of the clone-army is disrupted as Naruto grabs her around the waist, she puts an arm around his neck, and they both vanishes into a trail of golden embers.

Crimson eyes watch them go. The black mud falls away to reveal a maw of jagged teeth. And the great titan of darkness throws its head back with a roar.

" _ **############-!"  
**_

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon(IX)

Chapter 14: Maelstrom(Part I)

* * *

Why is it here?

Why is something like that, here?

What is something like _that thing_ , doing here?!

There is no way this is part of the initiation proper. Questions race through his mind, the memories and fatigue of the clones he left behind to hold back the monstrous grimm already starting to return to him with a frightening frequency.

' _What in the nine hells is this, Ozpin?! Something like_ _ **that**_ _?_ _ **HERE?!**_ _This is like beating the kind-of-hard tutorial boss only to get cut-scene-falcon-punched by a goddamn dragon!'_

"What _was_ that thing?! Weiss shouts, running beside him as they flee through the forest

"Seishoku-sha!" Ren answers, jumping over a root. "It translates to 'clergyman', but I believe the common name for them in the Kingdoms is 'Wendigo'! They are a class of the Awakened!"

Jaune huffs, desperately trying to keep pace with the rest of them. "I, hah, don't know what an 'Awakened' is, but that _really_ doesn't sound good!"

"Think grimm with semblances," Naruto growls. "They're basically grimm with semblances! There are grimm that can possess inanimate objects, grimm that can summon other grimm, and then there are grimm like that thing back there that can heal and grow stronger by cannibalizing other grimm!"

"But why is its mask black?" Pyrrha asks. "I've never seen a grimm with a mask like that before!"

Naruto's lips curl into a sneer. "That's-"

From behind a bush, a Beowolf lunges at him, its mask the very same pitch black as the monster battling his clones. A shotgun shell intercepts the grimm mid-air, blasting off its arm and upper shoulder.

"Head's up whiskers!" Yang shouts, pumping her arm to discard the emptied shell. "It looks like that thing didn't come alone!"

They come to a stop as another darkened mask emerges from the forest. First one. Then five. Ten and twenty. An army of shadow rises to halt their flight to the cliffs, each of their masks the same pitch black, these with jagged, scarlet veins.

"Where are all of these grimm coming from?!" Nora shouts, taking her hammer. "We didn't run into anywhere near this many on the way to the temple!"

She smashes one of the grimm against a tree. Two more emerge to take its place, a shadow resembling a boar and shadow resembling a bear emerging from the forest, both of their masks the same jet black

"Older grimm can influence the actions of other lesser grimm in the area!" Naruto answers, taking the silver greatsword from his back. "That thing's probably bringing every single grimm in this forest down on our heads!"

Gold ignites along the edge of the blade. Invisible razors swirl in the palm of his off hand. A burst of wind and aura rocket him into the swarm of shadows, wind and steel carving a path through their ranks. Naruto grits his teeth ripping through as many grimm as he can, doing whatever he can to keep calm the flames threatening to escape his heart.

This shouldn't be happening.

There's no way a group of kids fresh out of huntsmen prep-school would be expected to fight this many grimm on their own, let alone two people who just so happened to run into each other in a forest.

And that's not even accounting for the freak of nature currently disposing of the last of his clones.

A Wendigo. An Elder Wendigo, one easily two to three times bigger than any he has ever seen. One with a jet black mask, something he has seen more times in his dreams than in the waking world proper.

There's no way Ozpin would send a bunch of kiddy-hunters to such meaningless deaths. There's no way they could be expected to survive something _like this_. Which means…

It's his fault. This is all happening because of him.

Flame and shadow coil through his veins. His left eye burns a brilliant gold, the vision fading from his right eye as a stinging burn pierces through the back of his eye. The memories of the final clone return to him along with its remaining aura and fatigue and for a second, a single split second, he almost slips, golden flame erupting about him and managing nearly to form into a single tail of light before he clamps down on his aura, forcing it back behind the seal.

"Keep moving!" Jaune shouts, struggling against a lone Beowolf. "If we stay here, we're just going to get pinned down!"

Jaune raises his shield as the grimm bears down on him. And a blast of wind crashes into the Beowolf, pulverizing it into motes of black ash.

"It's coming!"

"Everyone get around me!" Ren says. "Naruto, can you make a smoke screen?!"

"Yeah!"

The ground trembles. They gather around the black-haired boy. Ren slams his hand against the ground, all of the color around them fading, a circle of monochrome grey forming around them with him at its center. Returning the greatsword to his back, Naruto claps his hands together. Winds swirl, kicking up the dirt and dust into a cloud of smoke. His fingers flip together, ending on a seal for bird.

" **Fuuton: Kazegakure no Jutsu-"** _(Wind Release: Hiding in the Wind)_

The air simmers. Light bends. Wind forms a shell around them, a vacuum seal to block out any sounds or smells. Not a second later, a black meteor descends from the sky, striking the earth with a shockwave that almost barrels him over.

The dark giant rises, steam coiling upwards from the blackened blood drenching it from head to toe. Its head turns, crimson lights seemingly looking straight at them.

Ruby and Yang raise their weapons to shoot at it.

Naruto holds up a hand to stop them.

For a moment, the crimson light continues to shine on them, before the Elder Wendigo turns away, apparently seeing nothing.

The steps move away, but not too far away. Not far away enough that they would have any chance of reaching the cliffs before it catches up to them.

"Alright, we should be good." Naruto looks to Ren. "What is this? How long can you hold it?"

"Not too long," Ren grunt, a single bead of sweat rolling down his brow. "This is my semblance. I can suppress negative emotions in an area by projecting it around me. But that grimm didn't appear to even see us at all. Did you…?"

Naruto nods. "Invisibility, noise suppression. Closed circulation also means they shouldn't be able to smell us either, but they'd be able to sense us if not for that semblance of yours. Thanks."

"It's the least I can do."

Slowly but surely, more and more of the lesser grimm begin to trickle into the area. The hunters look arounds, even the most talkative of them cowed into silence by their proximity to so many grimm.

"Can… can we keep moving?" Jaune asks, his voice low and trembling. "If we can just stay like this until the cliffs-"

Ren shakes his head.

"I… am sorry. I won't be able to last that long." He says in a strained voice.

"Then… then…" the armored boy paces, putting his hands to his head, running his fingers through his hair. He looks to Naruto. "Can you make more clones? To distract them? If we just use your clones as a distraction and then hide and make more every time that giant grimm catches up to us-!"

Naruto's expression tightens. He rubs at his right eye, wiping away the blood. "My clones return their fatigue to me whenever they dispel. If I keep making them like that…"

He'll be forced into releasing a tail, whether he likes it or not.

He'd very nearly done it too. Back at the temple. If Weiss hadn't come back for him…

…

"But, I think you have the right idea."

"I _very much_ disagree." Weiss scowls, making her way over to him with a glare. "You are _not_ about to suggest what I think you're about to suggest."

It is less a question so much as it is a command. Naruto meets her gaze with a scowl. "You got a better idea, princess?"

"What? What is it?" Ruby asks, trying to put herself between the two white-haired teens. "You have an idea to get us out of here, Naruto?"

"Yeah," He glances at Ruby. He looks to Weiss. Turning around, facing the direction from where they can hear the Elder Wendigo's footsteps, he takes the silver greatsword from his back. "Get back to the cliffs. Get to the instructors. Tell Ozpin and the witch to get off their asses and kill this thing."

"That's a great idea and all and we really should get on with it," Yang chirps. "There's just this one, not-so-tiny, really, _really_ , REALLY big problem, and a whole lot of kind of smaller problems, kind of getting in the way! There's no way we're outrunning that thing! Not with all these grimm between us and the cliffs!"

"Yes, you can. Because I'm going to lead it away."

""" _ **WHAT!"""**_

For an instant, every other person, minus Weiss and Ren, regain their color as they scream the exact same word at the exact same time. Crimson eyes snap towards them. The outburst lasts only a moment before Ren's semblance is able to re-exert its influence, their colors returning to a pale monochrome and the crimson eyes all drifting away.

"Like hell you are!" Yang growls, her own eyes flashing crimson. "I don't care how strong you are or how well you can heal! There's no way we're leaving you to fight that monster alone!"

"You already have the relics!" Naruto snaps, whirling around to face them. "All you have to do is get back to the cliffs! There's no point in sticking around to fight that giant ass grimm. We can't kill it, not with so many of these stupid things around for it to just keep healing from. The only thing you all can do is run away!"

"And leave you here?" Weiss seethes. "Leave you behind while the rest of us run away? What about you?"

"What about me?" Naruto repeats, meeting her glare. "I'm the only one who has any chance of fighting that thing long enough for everyone else to get to the cliffs! Ozpin said the teachers aren't going to intervene _during_ the initiation. So that means _if_ they do end up having to intervene, whoever hasn't got back to the cliff with a relic is going to fail."

And even if they don't, he doubts he'll be able to beat the Elder Wendigo without using his tails.

Ruby gasps. "But that means-!"

"It's fine," Naruto looks away. He pauses a moment to choose his words, again rubbing at a bit of blood still stuck to his cheek. "It… it's not like I'm supposed to be here, anyway. The most important thing is just making sure everyone gets out of here."

There is a moment of silence as his words sink in. He glances at Weiss out of the corner of his eye. At Yang. His gaze sweeps over the gathered students as they struggle with the reality of their situation.

Jaune and Pyrrha don't have any choice. Even if they stayed, they would just be a liability, a fact that they both appear to be well aware of.

The strain of cloaking them is obviously starting to get to Ren, his skin turning paler, his breathing getting heavier, drops of sweat beading across his brow. He'll probably have to go with Jaune and Pyrrha. And Nora will go with her boyfriend/partner to keep him safe.

Yang should want to go back for the same reason. To get her younger sister to safety. Blake… doesn't look like she is going to raise any issue. She's probably smart enough to realize they really are out of options.

For Weiss, considering what failure entails for her, he doubts she wants to stick around. Probably hates his guts anyway.

That means, the only problem is-

"I'm staying."

For a moment, Naruto stares at the silver-eyed girl. He furrows his brow, wondering just how she managed to say something without actually moving her lips. Then, he realizes it wasn't her. And then they both turn to the actual speaker.

"What."

Weiss meets his gaze with a determined glare. "I'm staying."

"Me too!"

""No, no you are not."" Two voices reply to Ruby's declaration at the same time. Naruto and Yang look to each other and then turn back to Ruby.

"But Weiss-!"

"-Is not staying either!" Naruto snaps, shooting a glare at said girl.

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

" _Yes,_ I am!"

"Look!" he rubs his face in frustration, trying, failing to keep his emotions in check. The sleep deprivation. The pain in his right eye. The growing fatigue from his clones, having to fight with as much strength as he can all while holding back as not to manifest the first tail. All it seems to come crashing down at him at once, and he cannot help but allow his irritation leak into his voice.

"Flower boy's already giving it his all to buy us some time to figure out what the hell we're supposed to be doing instead of running around like a bunch of headless chickens! _We don't have the time to sit here and argue._ If you stay, she's going to want to stay!" Naruto motions to Ruby and then jabs a finger at Yang. "And if she stays, of course her older sister's not going to ditch her! _And then,_ you have two people trying to guard three, and I don't think I need to explain why that's a bad idea!"

"No, please! Please do explain to me how that's a worse idea than leaving you behind! You can't fight that thing _and_ all of these grimm alone!"

He feels it. His anger flares, snapping and biting only to be doused by a splash of cool calmness. But the embers remain. And each time, those embers burn just a bit hotter, keep their heat just a bit stronger, motes of red beginning to leak into the blue of his eyes.

" _Yes, I can!"_

" _No, you can't!"_

A flurry of rose petals. Ruby appears, trying to put herself between the two of them. "Hey! No need to get angry or start yelling! I mean, with all the grimm and everything, it's probably really, sort of not a good idea to argue here!"

"There is _nothing_ to argue about!" Weiss snaps. "Do you even understand what this idiot is saying?! This isn't even about failing the initiation or losing his standing at Beacon Academy! _He is telling us to leave him to die_!"

"That isn't what I was saying at all! Were you even listening to me, you damn billboard?!"

"Yes! Yes, I have been, and all I've heard from your mouth is sheer, insufferable stupidity!"

"Alright, come on!" Ruby squeezes in between them, trying to separate them. "Come on, come on, come on, come one! No need for name calling! We're all friends here!"

"" _Who would want to be his/her friend?!""_

The dome of monochrome around them fades. Panting slightly, Ren rushes over to them, placing his hands on both their shoulders, focusing his semblance on the two of them and the two of them only. A moment passes, and two pairs of eyes look towards him. One a light blue, wide with shock, and filling with shame and guilt at her behavior.

The other a faintly-glowing, bloody, crimson red.

"Naruto, your eyes…" Ren stares at him, shock and disbelief clear in his eyes. "They're… red."

"Yeah, I know." Naruto grumbles. "Didn't get any sleep last night."

"No… I mean, your iris…"

"Yeah, that's happens when something's pissing me off," he explains, narrowing his eyes at the current cause of his anger.

Weiss flinches. She looks away and holds one arm with the other. "I'm sorry."

Apparently satisfied with having managed to calm at least one of them down, Ren claps his hands together. The color around them fades once more. Again, Naruto feels the faintest tug in the back of his mind. Probably the older boy's semblance attempting to quell his emotions.

But water can't put out a gasoline fire. And right now, that 'gasoline' is leaking into his aura, seeping out from the metaphysical sewer that is the seal on his stomach, black tainting gold and feeding into his frustration and annoyance.

Still, he does manage to get a hold of himself. The fact that Weiss looks like she's _finally_ going to listen to him does wonders, and, while it may be amplifying his darker emotions, the power leaking from the seal is also giving him a much-needed energy boost.

Naruto closes his eyes. He lets out a sigh. While his eyes don't revert back to their natural blue, his glare loses his edge.

"Better be sorry…" he mumbles, content to leave things there.

Weiss winces again. The pang of guilt is like a kick to the shin. This time, Naruto winces too. He glances away, gaining a sudden and inexplicable interest in a nearby tree as his free hand comes up to scratch his head, his fingers digging into his white locks as though they may be able to dig through his skull and find an answer as to just why he hasn't just said 'fuck it, unleashed his tails and reduced the overgrown deer-monkey-dog-thing into a hybrid smear on the forest floor.

To his surprise, the answer comes fairly quick. Probably because she is standing right in front of him, having _somehow_ decided, by some twist of fate, some monumental leap of logic, to come to _this school_ instead of staying in Atlas like any reasonable person would have after being kidnapped and nearly killed by a terrorist organization.

He and Ozpin will be having words after this. And by words, he means he is going to shove that cane of his right up his shady-old-man ass if he tries to give him some bullshit about it all being a 'happy coincidence'.

The look on her face is like someone just verbally bitch-slapped her in front of a room full of people. Which, to be fair, isn't too far off. Naruto lets out another sigh. He reaches out and hesitates for a moment before resting his hand on her shoulder.

"I… look," Naruto looks away again. He grumbles, the look on his face like a child being forced to apologize.

"I understand why you don't want to leave me alone here," he says. "I'd want to punch anyone telling me to run away while they stayed behind to fight, too. But, right now, the most important thing is making sure everyone stays alive."

He looks to Jaune and Pyrrha. "We've got two…"

A pause. Naruto glances over at Ren. "Two and a half? How you doing, flower boy?"

"T-two, and maybe a third," Ren pants.

"Point is, we have people who can't fight," Naruto continues, looking back at Weiss. "Non-combatants. Getting them out of here and away from danger should be our first priority. And I'm the only one who has a chance of fighting that thing long enough to get to the cliffs. Come on, you're the whatever-heiress right? You gotta be smart enough to know this is the only way we're all getting out of this."

Her eyebrow twitches. She looks to his hand, her expression making the transition from shame and guilt to vague annoyance.

"Please stop touching me." Weiss grips his wrist, pulling his hand from her shoulder.

There is a moment as she glares at him with narrowed eyes, her fingers still wrapped around his arm. He moves his arm slightly to shake her grip. It doesn't budge. Naruto gives her a questioning look and her glare only intensifies in response, her lips clamped shut as if trying to keep any of her thoughts from leaking out.

"Don't die."

With that, she shoves away his arm, turns around and stomps away. Yang watches the heiress go with an amused look, making her way over to him.

"Talking a big game, whiskers," the older girl says, patting him on the back. "Sure, you don't need any help?"

Naruto gives her a slight smirk. "You know I was going easy on you, right? The only reason I was going that slow was to get your warmed up first."

A small snort. She puts her hand on his cheek and smiles. "Well, make it back to Beacon and maybe I'll return the favor."

That gets a confused blink from him. "Huh… uh, no, I mean, I was just kind of waiting for your semblance to get going. I don't really get stronger the longer I fight or anything like that."

The only response he gets is a wink, her finger tracing his jawline as she steps away. Naruto perks a brow. He looks to Ruby, the silver-eyed girl watching her sister go with a strange look. "What was that about?"

"Oh, you know," Ruby tries to wave away his curiosity, very clearly uncomfortable. "Just… just Yang being Yang. But hey, so-"

She puts a hand on his arm. "Just… are you sure you're going to be fine, alone? I can just apply again in two years, when I normally would. So, if you want me to stay…"

' _If she knew, she would have already been long gone.'_

"Go." He gives her a small, tight smile. One to keep his thoughts from reflecting on his face. "I'm sure we'll run into each other again."

' _One way or another…'_

Ruby nods, returns his fake smile with a real one and goes to join her sister and partner. Naruto allows the smile to drop from his face. He gives the gathered students a forlorn glance and turns back to the direction in which he can sense the presence of the Elder Wendigo.

"Yang, Nora, you two look like the hardest hitters, you guys stay in front, clear us a path!" he hears Jaune shout in an attempt to organize their impromptu escort group. "Blake, Ruby, Ren, get out sides and back, make sure we don't get surrounded! Pyrrha, is your aura back? No? Stay with Weiss, and Weiss, you use those circle things to support us! And Naruto…!"

He shifts his head to indicate that he's listening. With his back to them, he can't see them. But he can feel each of their eyes on his back. A mixture of faith in his abilities, concern for a new friend and guilt that they are unable to do more.

"Kick that thing's ass!"

It feels nice.

' _Is it fun? Playing hero…'_

He doesn't turn around, instead raising his left arm and giving them a thumbs up. "On your mark, flower boy. Whenever you're ready."

A moment passes. And another. And another. He feels it before he sees it, the slight damper on his emotions fading moments before color returns to their surroundings. The dome of monochrome fades. The barrier of wind disperses. And legions of crimson lights turn towards them, widening in surprise as the group of would-be huntsmen and huntresses crash into them, sparing the fleeing students only a moment's notice before they focus on him and him alone.

The sound of thundering footsteps appears in the distance. And Naruto narrows his eyes, his left eye a fissure of shadow in a pit of molten crimson and the illusion of normalcy fading from his right eye.

The pupil sinks into a pool of red. Ghostly rose petals begin to bleed from the scar. The white fades from his sclera, shadows creeping over the surface of his right eye as light and darkness flood his body, the whisker marks on his cheeks thickening ever so slightly as his presence becomes like a beacon of light to the surrounding grimm.

This is fine. No, this is more than fine. This is perfect.

They shouldn't have any problems getting back to the cliff. Regular grimm shouldn't pose any danger and he'll lead the Elder Wendigo away. Even if, and it is a _big_ if, he isn't the reason for the presence of the greater grimm, he has always attracted grimm like bees to honey, ever since he was a child.

This should be no different.

He said for them to tell Goodwitch to come help put it down. But now that he thinks about it, Ozpin did say the instructors would be watching. Which means they should already know.

They should already know. But there has been no response. No hint or reason to believe anyone is coming to their aid.

Which can only mean one thing.

' _So, they put you here because of me, eh?'_ Naruto thinks, tightening his grip around the silver greatsword.

Harbinger, he thinks Ruby said its name was.

Crash. Crash. Crash. A great shadow comes into view, charging for him, a beacon of bloodlust and ill-intent.

" _ **-#################!"**_

' _Fine then. Come. Come and-'_

His thoughts come to a screeching halt as the Elder Wendigo barrels past him, ignoring his presence entirely.

Time slows to a stop, everything moving as though engulfed in a sea of syrup. Naruto whirls around with wide eyes, the shock piercing his chest like a knife as the great shadow barrels past him, charging straight for the retreating students.

They fail to react in time, each of them either too busy fighting the grimm or every bit as stunned as he is.

The giant of darkness leaps into the air. It swings its right arm back, body twisting, muscles coiling as it places all of its strength and momentum into a single blow. It is the fall of an executioner's axe, a final sentence delivered in black. With the sheer amount of force behind it, a clean hit means certain death.

Naruto moves.

He just manages to reach the target of the Elder Wendigo's deathblow a single instant before the blackened claws fall.

Blood splatters over the forest floor.

* * *

 **AN: I feel I need to apologize twice over. First for the chapter being late. Last week was midterms week AND family was visiting, so I'm kind of surprised I even managed to get this chapter finished.**

 **And for that cliffhanger. Honestly, I had to split this chapter and couldn't find anywhere else that would be better.**

 **For this chapter:**

 **Fight scene? Hopefully it didn't feel like it dragged on too long.**

 **Weiss's behavior. Things got kind of heated, so now is when we're really going to see if I'm getting the characterization right for the RWBY-verse. Of course, Weiss is a bit unique in that regard…**


	15. Chapter 15: Maelstrom(Part II)

_This is a scene from a time long past._

… _  
_

* * *

" _Come on, hurry up! You guys are so slow, what's taking so long?!"_

 _The faint smell of earth. The soft rustling of life. Sunlight filters through a canopy of tree leaves. A clear blue sky shines overhead, lush greens covering the ground, a vibrant sea of brown and green extending out as far as the eye can see._

 _Past the green and brown, there is a flash of bright blond. Then, following shortly behind, pink and black._

" _He… *huff* He still hasn't unlocked his aura, right?" pants a girl, seven maybe eight years old at the oldest, with pink hair and green eyes._

 _A boy with black hair and black eyes only gives an affirmatory grunt in response, his hands shoved in his pocket. He looks to the girl, tired and wheezing with her hands on her knees. His gaze turns to the direction he last saw the spot of blond rushing off to._

" _Oi, dead-last!" he calls._

 _The last of their three-man party pokes his head out from behind a tree, his hair a sunshine blond, his eyes a soft blue and his whiskered cheeks wrinkled into a scowl._

" _Whadaya want, bastard?!"_

" _L-language…"_

" _Oh, sorry Sakura! Whadaya want, ya… er…"_

 _There is a moment as the blond-haired boy attempts to think of an appropriate name for the other boy. Black eyes close, and he lets out a sigh._

" _Quit running ahead of us," the second boy says, giving the whiskered boy an annoyed glare. "We have to stay together. If you get eaten by a Beowolf, Kakashi's going to be angry at us."_

" _Come on, there's no way there'll be any grimm this close to the village! What are you so worried about?"_

" _I'm worried about the only one of us who can't use their aura running headfirst into a grimm, usuratonkachi."_

" _You know I don't actually know what any of those weird words mean, right?"_

" _It's a small hammer that's so thin it's basically useless. Like you."_

" _You-!"_

" _Are you guys sure this is a good idea?" the girl says, having caught her breath. "We aren't supposed to leave the village walls…"_

" _Sure it is!" the whiskered boy beams, his eyes bright and full of childish wonder. "I mean, come on! Don't you want to see what it's like outside of the village?! To see what the outside world is like?!"_

" _I mean, I do… but what if we run into a grimm? Or a ninja from another village?" she asks, sounding far more worried about the idea of the second than the first._

 _"No way there's anything like that around here!"_

" _The dead-last has a point, we shouldn't have to worry about any enemy shinobi this close to the village," the dark-eyed boy says, ignoring the glare he receives from his companion. "At worst, all we have to worry about is running into a stray grimm, but…"_

 _He looks to the whiskered boy with a slight smirk. "Well, unlike_ _ **some**_ _of us here, I can already use my aura_ _ **and**_ _I even know how to use elemental manipulation without dust. So I should be able to handle anything that comes our way."_

 _A growl. The whiskered boy glares at the other boy, jabbing a finger at him._

" _Yeah, well just you watch! Any big scary grimm shows up, I'll blow it away in one shot!"_

… _  
_

* * *

White hot agony spills over from his right arm. His vision flickers. The earth bends and shatters beneath the force of the Elder Wendigo's blow, dirt and earth erupting into the air as the shockwave sends them tumbling across the forest floor, his left arm hugging Ruby against him and his right arm a bloody stump below the shoulder, a small cry coming from the silver-eyed girl as the two of them crash against a tree trunk.

"Gah-!"

The sharp stab of pain from his back goes almost unnoticed. A torrent of white threatens to drown his conscious. Naruto forces open his left eye as he grabs his right shoulder, clenching his teeth and curling into himself as the waves of pain roll over his entire being.

"Naruto?!"

" _ **###K####A###!"**_

The titan of darkness releases an indignant shriek, its intended target swept away to safety at the very last moment. It rips its arm from the earth. Crimson eyes fall upon them. It takes a step, crouches, muscles coiling as it prepares to lunge at them-

" _ **YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"**_

A wave of heat washes over him. Flame roars to life, yellow, orange and vengeful red pouring out from just out of his line of sight. The Wendigo leaps at them. And a streak of blazing gold smashes into the great shadow mid-air, knocking it onto its back and sending it crashing to the forest floor.

Yang leaps atop the downed grimm, bloody murder in her eyes, her hair alight like a river of fiery gold. She grabs the bone of its rib-cage with one hand, laying into it with the other. One. Twice. Her fist crashes against the beast's shrunken chest. There is a sharp _crack_ and she grabs the bit of protruding bone, pulling, flesh and tendon, muscle and skin coming apart as she attempts to rip open its chest.

The Elder Wendigo recovers before she is able to. It grabs her in its right arm, raising it back as it prepares to hurl her away.

Yang brings her fist down on the thumb. It gives with a wet snap. The arm whips forward and she grabs onto the dislocated finger, using the momentum of the giant grimm's throw to swing onto the back of its hand and bring her fist down on the broken joint.

The point-blank shotgun shell fueled by aura and fury blasts the thumb from its hand. A screech of pain. The Wendigo jerks its arm back, attempting to throw her off. Yang clings to the limb with aura. She sprints up the length of the arm, her goal the head of the beast, clutching the clawed thumb like some kind of misshapen spear.

She throws it. The clawed nail finds one of the crimson lights. Yang jumps forward off the shoulder. A punch drives the beast's own thumb deeper into its eye, further into its skull. It releases a pained shriek, its other hand coming up to clutch its eye as it stumbles back.

She rushes forward, the recoil from two shotgun shells propelling her upward. Yang descends on the black giant's head. Her fist meets its mask with a thunderous impact, spiderwebs spreading across the black as the greater grimm falls backwards, crashing into a group of the lesser grimm, the ground shaking as a cluster of Beowolves and Boarbatusks are crushed into nothingness.

Yang finds a foothold in its horns and her fist descends on the head of the Wendigo, each gunshot-enhanced punch blasting a chunk out of its head, the shots echoing through the forest as she unloads on the downed grimm.

"I-It's okay! It'll be okay!" Ruby tries to assure him, her voice panicked, her silver eyes wet with worry as she attempts to wrap Naruto's injury with her cloak. "Don't move, I can carry you back to the cliff. Yang can-!"

A crash. The ground trembles and breaks. The near-headless Wendigo frees itself with a flail of its limbs, almost like a child throwing a tantrum, a stray swing of its claws catching Yang and sending her flying. Pushing off the ground with his good arm, Naruto leaps upward, the part of the red cloak wrapped around his arm tearing away from the rest of it as he takes to the air, catching Yang and stopping their flight with a quick burst of wind from his feet.

"How is that thing still moving?!" Yang growls. She looks to him, to his missing arm. " _Why_ are you still moving?! I don't care how insane of a healing factor you have, if you don't sit your ass back down and let me handle this, I swear to god-!"

"It went for your sister!" Naruto hisses, interrupting her in a voice low enough for only her to hear. He lands, sets her down and jabs a finger at the Wendigo, roots and veins already repairing the hole in its crushed skull.

"That thing went straight past me and went for you guys! Now, I don't know why something like that is here or why it decided to run right past me when _every single grimm_ I have _ever_ met has always made a beeline straight for me the second it sees me, but you guys need to get out of here _right now!_ I can fight with only one arm! I can't fight while covering for all of you!"

Losing an arm? It hurt. It hurt like hell. But in all honestly, it is far from the worst injury he has ever received. The problem isn't that he lost a limb. No, the problem is that this is _usually_ the part where he proceeds to spout three more limbs and stomp a pothole in whatever it is that managed to actually wound him.

Unfortunately, a certain cane-toting jackass says he isn't allowed to use his tails. Which means he is going to have to _improvise_. Which means collateral damage. Lots and lots of collateral damage, something that is kind of, sort of, a problem when there is a good chance that his _improvising_ is going to get the people he is trying to keep from getting themselves killed, killed.

"There is no way we're leaving you to fight this thing with _only one arm_!" Blake snaps at him, even the most reserved of their group finally voicing their disagreement.

" _Then_ _get to the damn cliffs before I lose the other one!"_

" _ **################!"**_

The Elder Wendigo slams its claws into the earth and releases a furious shriek, the black blood covering the side of its head the only remaining evidence of the hole Yang had punched through its skull. It hurls itself at Ruby, again targeting the silver-eyed girl.

This time, Naruto is ready.

A thunderous blast of wind crashes into the Wendigo from the side. The wall of pressurized air intercepts the giant grimm's charge, sending it crashing into the forest.

"Wait, Naruto we can-!"

Without giving them a chance to respond, Naruto rockets away on a burst of wind and aura.

A second blast of wind slams into the already downed grimm, hurling it further away from the rest of the group. The land slopes downward. The beast drives its claws into the earth to catch itself. Naruto slams his hand onto the ground in response. A blade of wind slices through the top layer of soil, destroying any sort of anchoring the giant grimm may have had, a third blast of wind hurling the Wendigo off the side of the hill.

Naruto winces. Spider webs race up his arm from the strain of firing off such powerful bursts of wind three times in a row. He lets out a trembling gasp, clenches his hand into a fist and leaps after the Wendigo.

A burst of wind from his feet accelerate him through the air. It takes only a few seconds to catch up to the Wendigo as it tumbles down the steeped land, the rolling mass of shadow crashing through trees, smashing the trunks to splinters as it rolls over them, flattening the land as it descends.

Aura flares about his left hand. A chain of ethereal gold winds around its left horn. The Elder Wendigo catches itself, its claws digging two trenches deep in the soil. Naruto's own momentum only manages to cause its head to jerk back. The Wendigo all but ignores him as it crouches, the muscles of its legs coiling and tensing as it prepares to take to the air.

Two golden knifes fly, both sheathed in a cloak of razor wind. The first misses. The second carves a gouge through the beast's left leg, dispersing all the power in the limb as the Wendigo falls to the side. It catches itself. Naruto swings around, the golden chain wrapping around the beast's neck as he lands on its shoulder.

He raises his arm. Wind floods the chains, the chain links pressing in on themselves, flattening, becoming thin like a serrated blade. His arm falls. The chains tighten. Gold severs the shadow's head from its shoulders and Naruto grabs a fist full of explosive tags from his pocket, shoving them into the depths of the black blood beginning to flow from the stump of its neck and leaping away.

He lands a short distance away. A sigh of relief. Naruto looks to the black blood covering his hand. He wrinkles his nose, and shakes his hand, attempting to flick it off. Failing that, he simply wipes it on his shirt, waiting for the head of the beast to reform, taking the moment to rest and catch his breath.

In general, the rough timeline of his missions can be divided into three parts.

Act one, things are going well. All according to plan. No problem. Nothing in the way except for the occasional mook. Maybe an elite mook here or there, but nothing he can't handle.

Act two. Something goes wrong. Everything goes wrong. Homicidal extremist gets their hands on a super-prototype dust armor. A huntress appears. The princess is in another castle. Whatever it is, one thing or another, the world up and decides his life hasn't been hard enough as it is and proceeds to kick him in the metaphorical shins.

And now for act three.

A skull emerges from the gushing black. Next a jaw, horns and a mask, crimson lights falling upon the white-haired boy standing between it and its prey.

"Hi there! It's not very nice to ignore people, you know."

The greater grimm opens its maw and begins to unleash a furious shriek.

" _ **##-!"**_

He makes a half-ram seal.

An explosion rocks the forest. The beast's head and upper body erupt into a cloud of fire, force and gore. A barrier of wind protects him from the splatter. The headless body falls with a thump and Naruto makes to cross his arms, only to realize he can't really cross his arms with only one arm, instead putting his hand on his hip as he waits for the creature's head to reform once again.

Blackened blood gushes from the crater between its shoulders. The headless beast pushes itself up, blood and shadow twisting into the form of a featureless skull, a single red light emerging from its depths.

It centers on him, pulsing with rage and fury.

Naruto gives it a wave and a smile.

" _ **####K#############!"  
**_

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon

Chapter 15: Maelstrom: Part II

* * *

"Well, at least now I have its attention."

Naruto leaps over a slash of black claws, the blow just barely missing him and reducing a nearby tree into scraps of wood. The next swing comes right after. The giant arm is a blur of force and motion, seeking to do to his head what it did to his arm.

A burst of wind throws him to the ground. The Wendigo's swing flies over him and pulverizes a tree into a shower of splinters. Another burst throws him forward, allowing him to roll away as a fist twice the size of his entire body descends, putting a crater into the earth.

He leaps onto a tree behind the giant grimm. The Elder Wendigo whirls around, heaving its entire body like a club. It smashes through the trunk, Naruto jumping upwards. A burst of air throws him out of the path of the black claws.

Gold forms into a knife in his hand, a chain attached to its end. He hurls it into a nearby tree. The chain swings him out of the way of another flail of its arms, swings him around a tree and hurls him at the beast's head, a second knife appearing in his hand in a flash of flame.

Wind swirls about the knife of golden flame. Naruto draws his arm back. A crack of air. The knife rockets forward as if fired from a gun, a bullet of gold streaking through the air. The Wendigo tilts its head, angling its horns such that the wind-enhanced knife only carves a gouge out the side of its head instead of going straight through its skull.

The black giant lunges at him in a flurry of claws and teeth. Naruto dodges away with another burst of air. He makes a sharp left, flipping over a blur of black as the beast crashes through trees, rips the topsoil from the earth and plows through bushes, leveling the forest in its pursuit.

There is a reason the Wendigo are one of the few kinds of grimm hunters actively track and hunt down.

Every grimm they devour makes them stronger, faster, more agile and adds more fuel for their healing factor. There are even reports of Wendigo capable of utilizing the attributes unique to the grimm they've eaten. The newborns are no more dangerous than any common Beowolf or Ursa. Those are the ones that account for just about every Wendigo he's ever encountered. With an insatiable hunger, they would simply devour every grimm in the surrounding area and eventually move onto the humans living nearby, eventually being discovered and subsequently exterminated.

They are the one of the types of grimm most ruled by their instincts. To consume. To destroy. To devour everything in their path, like a fire that wishes to spread and spread and spread until there is nothing left to burn.

Which is why it doesn't make any sense.

Naruto lands on a branch. He crouches, flips upward on a burst of air as the Elder Wendigo plows through the tree, meeting with about as much resistance as a person would a spider web. Black claws dig into the earth as the beast tries to turn on a time, its own momentum dragging it backwards.

A blast of wind throws it off its feet, sending it crashing backwards through the forest. Naruto lands on another branch. A shadow falls over him. Aura and air burst beneath his palm, hurling him away as the Wendigo descends with a thunderous crash. The shockwave of the impact throws him and the trunk of a tree stops his flight, sending a stab of pain racing up his spine.

A screech. The crash of monstrous footsteps. The Wendigo charges him before he has the time to get to his feet and he pushes himself out of the way with another burst of air, rolling back onto his feet just in time to see an uprooted tree flying at him.

His hand traces an arc through the air, the air becoming a blade and the blade slicing through the oncoming trunk. Black claws descend. A blast of wind shoots him out of the way. The claws dig into the earth, downward and upward, ripping up a massive pillar of dirt and dust.

It moves. The dirt hides its form but does nothing to hide its bloodlust as it barrels through the smokescreen of earth. Wind gathers and sharpens into his hand. Naruto flips upward. The black giant passes just under him, its horns coming within inches of goring him as he throws his hand forward, a shotgun of invisible blades slicing the Wendigo's head into a shower of bone, blood and brain matter.

The headless body crashes forward. Naruto lands, taking the moment to catch his breath, sweat beginning to bead across his brow.

Why is that thing even here, the white-haired boy thinks as the headless body pushes itself off the ground, black blood already forming into the semblance of a skull.

There's no way it should have been able to survive long enough to get that big, especially with a place like Beacon Academy so close by.

Why is it here?

Why did it all but ignore him until he blew its head off?

Why does it have a black mask?

Too many questions. Not enough answers. And as much as he'd love to simply chalk its presence up to Ozpin being an asshole, he doubts even the so-called Great and Terrible would be so cold-hearted as to send his would-be students to their deaths. After all, had he not run into Jaune and Pyrrha on the way back, he would have probably been at the cliffs, doing his best to piss off Goodwitch at the time the Elder Wendigo had made its appearance.

No…

It wasn't _his_ presence the Wendigo reacted to.

It wasn't _him_ the greater grimm went after.

It was _her_.

As if to confirm his suspicious, there is a sharp stab from his right eye, a wet warmth dripping down the side of his cheek.

' _Seriously… you really are such a giant pain in my ass.'_

With that, he turns his thoughts away from the 'whys', instead deciding to focus on the 'whats'. Namely, what he is going to do about the freaky dog-monkey-deer-rabbit thing currently trying to eat him.

" _ **K#######!"**_

The black giant launches itself at him with a shriek. Naruto lets out a growl, drawing on as much aura as he can without manifesting the first tail. Fire floods his veins. Pain radiates from his right eye. A wreath of fire engulfs the left. He leaps over the greater grimm's charge, forming a tri-pronged knife in his hand, layering it in a sheath of razors and slicing at its neck all in one motion.

It is too shallow. Black blood spurts. The wind-extended blade manages to sever the spinal cord, but the head remains attached to the body, muscles and tendons anchoring the partially-severed neck to its shoulders as root-like veins emerging to sew the wound shut.

The Wendigo whirls around, its arm a blur of force. A blast of wind throws him out of the way, the swing obliterates a nearby tree and Naruto rolls onto his feet, wincing as his arm begins to ache with pins and needles.

He can't keep this up forever.

For the Wendigo, he probably won't need more than two, at most three, tails to reduce it to a bloody smear on the forest floor. The problem isn't that. The problem is that by using his tails, he goes from 'prospective student' to 'S-rank criminal' and, somehow, he doubts Goodwitch would be very willing to give him a head start, regardless of whether or not this whole mess is because of her boss.

It does beg the question of what an S-rank criminal has to fear from someone like her. And the answer is that it is less having to fight some B-rank huntress that he fears, so much as it is that if he _is_ forced to use the power that earned him his S-rank, as sleep-deprived and fatigued as he is, there is a decent chance that Beacon Academy ends up a giant smoking crater by the end of the day.

Which is, needless to say, something he would rather avoid.

The Elder Wendigo crouches. It takes to the air, disappearing above the canopy of the forest. Naruto leaps away as the greater grimm falls like a meteor, the force of its descent leveling the surrounding trees, throwing him back as a pillar of dirt erupts into the air, splinters and bits of earth pelting him like rain.

A flash of bloodlust. A burst of wind hurls him out of the way as the dark giant barrels through the smoke screen of dirt and soil, taking to the air with another monstrous leap.

Again, the Wendigo descends. Again, the shockwave throws him, the forest and surrounding area reduced to a mist of splinters and airborne clumps of dirt. The thunderous crash of its return to the earth deafens him. The flying debris blinds him. Yet, a barrier of wind protects him from the airborne splinters and stones and roots, and just as the Wendigo charges straight towards him without fail, Naruto dodges away on a burst of air each time.

A third shockwave slams into him. Naruto rides the momentum, accelerating with a step of wind, escaping out from the cloud of pulverized forest. His vision returns to him and he scans the area, finding the sturdiest looking tree around him, a great oak easily over a meter in diameter.

The shadow falls again. Naruto leaps away, plants himself with aura and summons a barrier of wind. The shockwave of dirt and debris washes over him, deflected by the shield of air, and a burst of wind hurls him out of the way of the Wendigo's charge as it tears past him. Wind and aura swirl about his feet and he makes a beeline straight for the oak as the ground trembles like a trampoline as the Wendigo hurls itself upwards again.

He slams his hand against the bark. Wind carves into the trunk and wraps around a point, the branches and pierces of bark falling away as the tree becomes a giant stake, aura reinforcing the wood and wind sharpening its edge.

Naruto jumps away. The shadow falls, impaling itself through the chest, its body crashing into the earth in a flurry of limbs, claws raking against the earth as it tries to free itself. It is as if the beast takes a moment to realize just what has happened and why this tree did not simply break into splinters when it fell upon it as all others had. It slams its arms against the ground, ripping the tree and its roots from the ground entirely as it crashes back to its feet.

A blur of white and orange. Gold flashes from above. The Wendigo throws its head to the side as a serrated chain of ethereal flames slices into its shoulder instead of its neck, black blood spraying into the air. Its hands come to grip the length of wood impaling its chest. Gold severs the beast's left leg and it falls, the root-like veins repairing its body unable to reattach the limb before it loses its balance.

The greater grimm crashes to the ground. A great hammer of wind slams down onto its head from above, bits and pieces of mask flying upward as its skull caves in, the crimson light still glaring upward with burning rage.

And that light goes out as a knife of golden aura pierces the eye. The explosive tag stuck onto the handle ignites, the head exploding into a shower of blood and gore. A greatsword of air severs the legs from the torso. A cannon of wind blasts the headless, legless torso into the distance and Naruto falls to his feet, stumbling over to a tree and falling back against its trunk. His chest heaves as he desperately sucks in breath after breath, releasing his reinforcement.

Fiery gold fades back to pale blue as they watch the disembodied legs fade into motes of black ash.

He lets his head hang. He cradles his arm against his chest. He pants, a tremor going through his hand at each shuddering breath. His lungs burn. His body aches. Blood drips from the cloth covering the stump of his right arm, from his ruined right eye, crimson staining the right side of his shirt as both injuries burn and itch as though being scraped across red-hot gravel.

The clock is ticking.

The longer he takes here, the greater the chance he won't be able to escape without serious collateral damage. And the giant of darkness shows no signs of slowing down.

If anything, it seems to be getting faster. Stronger. Smarter.

Or is it just that he is getting slower?

Between staying up the entire night before, the number of clones he's made since coming to Beacon and the sheer amount of aura he's been using to keep ahead of the rabid beast, the sleep deprivation seems to be hitting him the hardest with the aura flooding his body coming a very close second.

Even if you have a bottomless well, you can only drink for so long at a time before the water becomes poison and you begin to drown. And that is exactly what it is starting to feel like.

Like his body is drowning beneath a sea of golden flames.

His wind is dulling, his movements becoming sluggish, his chains and knifes taking that much more effort to nudge into existence. The longer he draws this out, the worse things are going to become for him.

Which means he needs to end this in an instant. One attack. A single blow powerful enough to completely overwhelm the monster's crazy regeneration.

And, minus his tails, without his right arm, he can think of two days to do it. One, he saw while flying overhead on the Nevermore. The second…

An ace in the hole. An attack the likes of which could easily destroy anything unfortunate to be struck by it, be it human, faunus or grimm. An original ninjutsu, created and perfected through the combined efforts of not one but three of the S-ranks to decorate the front pages of the Bingo Book, past and present.

An attack which has never before crossed his mind to use, not even once in the year and a half since its inception.

"How pathetic…" Naruto sighs. A forced chuckle. His lips curve into a dry smirk. He cradles his face in his hand as the forest seems almost to sway beneath his feet. "I really want to stay here that bad, eh…?"

"Though it's not like I'd get the chance to use it…"

He looks towards the direction in which he blasted the Wendigo's headless, legless torso, the direction of an oncoming crashing, the sound of claws digging into earth, of something being dragged across the ground at a rapid speed. Still leaning against the tree, Naruto shoves his hand into his pocket. He scowls, feeling only three explosive tags.

It isn't nearly as many as he'd like, but it will have to do.

The shadow becomes visible in the distance, crimson glaring at him through the half-formed skull, the greater grimm hurling itself at him on three and a half limbs, the root-like veins and blackened blood on the right side of its lower body still in the process of molding themselves into the shape of a leg.

Blue ignites into gold. Naruto blurs with a burst of wind and aura. The Elder Wendigo crashes through the tree the blood-covered boy had been leaning against only moments prior, the jaw of the featureless skull unhinging as the beginnings of a mask start to emerge from the blackened blood.

" _ **KU###A#####!"  
**_

* * *

 _"Do you think they have gun-guns in the Kingdoms?"_

" _Naruto, that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say."_

" _What?!" the whiskered boy whirls around to look at the pink-haired girl. "Mr. Kakashi said the easiest way to tell if the hunter is from the Kingdoms is if their weapon looks like it can transform into a gun! But what is their weapon is already a gun? Would it transform into a gun-gun?"_

 _The girl gives him a flat look. "No, I'm pretty sure that's just a gun turning into another gun."_

" _Oh."_

" _I don't even understand why people use those things." The second boy huffs. "They seem pretty useless to me, anyway."_

 _The whiskered boy grins. The pink-haired girl giggles. The black-haired boy gives them a look._

" _What?"_

" _Of course, you would think that! Doesn't your family hate technology or something?"_

" _Hey!" dark eyes glare at the whiskered boy. "My family does not_ hate _technology."_

 _He looks away with his nose upturned. "We just don't need it is all."_

" _That's a funny way of saying 'doesn't know how to use'."_

" _Like you can talk," the girl says. "I'm pretty sure you two are the only ones in our class without cellphones-."_

" _Hey, that's not my fault! Gramps gave me the money but I can't find any places that'll sell me one! Those jerks are always saying something about how I can't sign a contract because I'm 'technically a minor' or something!" the whiskered boy complains, not noticing the other boy elbow the girl, nor the brief look of guilt that flashes over her face._

" _It's not like you need one, everyone can hear you from across the village anyway," the dark-eyed boy scoffs. He glances around with worry. "Speaking of which, you should probably keep it down. I think we're getting close to the edge of the village."_

" _How can you tell, it's all just trees!" the whiskered boy lets out a sigh and slouches, turning around to face his companions. "Man, let's just go back this is boring~."_

 _No response. The whiskered boy blinks and looks up to find both the black-haired boy and the pink-haired girl rooted in place, their faces pale and their eyes wide with shock, staring at something past him._

"… _Guys?"_

" _Naruto." The black-haired boy calls his name, his voice tight and drawn like a string. A bead of cold sweat rolls down his brow. "Whatever you do… don't turn around."_

 _He fails to acknowledge his comrade's advice. Slowly, hesitantly, despite every part of his being screaming at him to heed the other boy's words, he turns._

 _Blue eyes meet crimson._

 _From behind a tree, it emerges. Bone-like armor covers jet-black fur. Pale white spikes jaunt out from its shoulders and back. Crimson lights leer at the blond from behind a bleach-white mask marked with yellow and red._

" _A-ah… ahh…"_

 _The whiskered boy takes a step back, his eyes wide, his mouth agape, a tiny, little noise leaking out from his lips._

 _The Beowolf Alpha advances, the fearful squeaking of the whiskered boy like a siren's song to its senses._

 _In three year's time, the children present may have been able to fight the grimm together and win._

 _In six year's time, any single one of them could easily defeat a grimm of this magnitude._

 _In nine year's time, the Alpha would be the one fleeing from them._

 _But here and now, none of them are the warriors they will grow up to be, burdened by neither experience nor strength. Even the black-haired boy, the strongest of their age group, would find it a near impossible task to defeat a grimm of this caliber on his own. Even the pink-haired girl, in her most tender and beloved years, could not hope to stand up against a grimm like this._

 _Even the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy with the whisker marks across his cheeks cannot help but cower before his nightmares given form._

 _Which is why his companions can do naught but scream as the Alpha's claws paint the forest in crimson.  
_

* * *

It takes only a few seconds for the beast to catch up to him again. Soon enough, a great shadow appears on the edge of his vision, a tidal wave of malicious intent barreling down on him. Naruto jumps up onto a tree branch, a burst of wind sending him upward again as the Elder Wendigo crashes into and through the tree, shards of bark falling like rain in its path.

An uprooted tree flies at him. A blade of wind slices it in two. A golden chain wraps around one of the two halves of the tree. The dark beast charges at him, claws extended and fangs bared and Naruto spins, his chain whipping the half of the tree around, the makeshift flail of aura and wood meeting the greater grimm's mask in an explosion of splinters.

The Elder Wendigo stumbles, a sizable crack running down the middle of its mask. Naruto continues his flight to the edge of the forest. Again, he manages to buy himself only a small measure of time before a screech echoes behind him, a series of tremors racing along the ground as the shadow closes in behind him.

In the distance, a break in the tree line comes into view. He shoves his hand into his pocket, takes the last of the explosive tags and priming them with his aura. A final burst of wind and aura accelerates him ahead of the rampaging shadow, pain flaring up from his feet as his legs turn to jelly, tendons snapping and bones cracking as the tags flutter to the ground and he bursts out from the tree line.

The trees give way to stone, the cliffside jaunting off over the forest below. And stone gives way to air as Naruto leaps over the cliff beyond the edge of the forest.

For a moment, he soars, flying through the skies above the Emerald forest, a sea of green below him. The wind catches him. He turns just as the black giant smashes through the tree line, stepping over the explosive tags he left on the ledge.

" _ **###########-!"**_

Force and fire. The explosive tags detonate, hurling the greater grimm into the air after him. For a moment, the massive grimm flies, burning crimson glaring at him with unrestrained fury. Black claws reach and fall just short, gravity taking hold of the beast and dragging it down towards the forest below.

"I might not be able to use my tails," Naruto pants as sweat drips down his brow. A smirk crosses his lips. He raises his arm to the sky. "But, out here in the middle of nowhere, I _can_ do this!"

The air begins to buzz and hum with energy. His aura saturates the sky around him. Wind surges towards him, his aura acting as a magnet, drawing all of the surrounding air currents to him. First a breeze. Then a gust. And then a squall. A localized storm forms around him with him at its eye, the raging winds swirling around him as he accelerates their rotation by pumping more and more of his aura into the air, to the point the sky itself gains a golden hue.

The winds howl. The heavens roar. The clouds begin to trace a great spiral in the sky.

" **Byakkohou** _ **(Skyfall)**_ **"**

His arm falls. The sky goes silent. The Elder Wendigo crashes into the forest below.

" _ **-!"**_

And the forest is crushed as the storm descends with an ear-splitting roar, a ring of expanding destruction erupting from right on top of the giant grimm, soil and trees and grass all stripped from the earth as the forest is blown away, a hollow basin digging itself into the earth. The sea of green parts to form an island of brown, gale force winds leveling the forest below.

It takes only an instant. The sky descends, carves out a depression into the earth and vanishes into thin air. A silence follows in the wake of his attack, and Naruto lets out a weak chuckle.

"Heh…" he pants, his skin losing its parlor by the second, a tremor washing over his entire body as the heat of his aura departs, leaving a spreading numbness in its wake. Even so, he forces his lips into a smirk. "There… you go. No tails… eat your heart out Ozpin…"

He begins to descend. The blessing of wind allows him to fall at a speed far slower than free-fall. His back meets the compacted soil at the bottom of the crater with a soft 'thump' and Naruto allows himself to lay there in the dirt, gasping for breath.

His healing factor begins to work to return the feeling to his body. It takes a few more seconds before he is able to roll onto his side, propping himself up on his only arm as he surveys the surrounding area.

… As impressive as this hole in the forest may be, the technique itself isn't all that powerful. It's big. It's flashy. But in terms of localized, destructive power, this attack has only about a tenth of the power of his 'ace'. The concussive force of wind is, by and far, the easier aspect of the element to master and utilize. Anyone could probably replicate this technique of his… provided they had the dozen-something truckloads of wind-dust needed to fuel it.

Naruto shifts onto a knee, clutching the stump of his right arm. He attempts to stand, only to wince as his legs give, sending him back to his knees, his body apparently unable to decide whether it wants to be numb as hell or in pain and, as a result, going with both numb and in pain.

He may have been able to avoid taking a direct hit but throwing himself around like a ragdoll to dodge the Wendigo's attacks had taken its toll. Combined with the strain of channeling so much aura for his reinforcement, to fuel his wind manipulation, to summon his knives and chains, throw in a dash of sleep deprivation, a pinch of a certain silver-eyed pain in the ass costing him his eye and arm, and the result is his current sorry state.

That is to say, still probably capable of getting out of here if he uses his tails.

"Gnh-."

He reaches around to his right pocket with his left hand. The motion causes his back and sides to ache, muscles shrieking in protest. His middle and ring fingers just manage to pinch the object in his pocket between them before he pitches forward, the muscles in his abs and upper back spasming the moment he untenses them.

"Tsssh- gah! Cramp-cramp-cramp-cramp-!"

Naruto falls to the dirt, trying and failing to contort his body in a way that stretches both his back and abs muscles. The result sets off a chain reaction. Every other muscle in his body rallies to join their brethren in protest. In the end, the white-haired boy is unable to do anything but flop to the ground and wait out his body's attempt to punish him for needlessly pushing it so hard. And in the throes of his judgement, he shifts his head to the side to look at the object held in his hand.

The golden pawn.

"I'm surprised this thing didn't fall out of my pocket or something stupid like that…"

All this trouble for something so insignificant.

The pain subsides. Naruto rolls onto his side. He pushes himself onto his feet, turns towards the center of the crater and tosses the piece over his shoulder.

No point in holding onto it if he won't need it.

"I know you're still alive. Hurry up and come out. Let's finish this."

The dirt at the center of the crater swells. The source of the bloodlust and malicious intent rises upward. The tip of a claw breaks the soil. Then, an arm, shards of broken bone jaunting out from the skin, the limb held together by little more than tendon and a gleaming viscous shadow, almost like a mixture of oil and blood.

The claw scratches at the surface. Once. Twice. On the third try, it manages to get a grip, pulling the rest of the arm out from underground. The arm repairs itself before his very eyes, root-like veins sewing the skin back together, piercing the bone, filling the hollow spots where the bone had been pulverized to dust with a dark, almost wood-like material.

The hide and fur hang from the arm like an oversized sleeve. The claws dig into soil, attempting to free the rest of the body. There is a crack. The forearm snaps and the whole limb goes still for a moment. Black veins emerge from the soil, piercing the arm, piecing it back together as the arm begins to regain its mass, the hide growing taunt with burgeoning muscle.

The claws again sink into the soil. The rest of the Elder Wendigo emerges from the earth, two-thirds of its body collapsed into itself, bone and patches of skin hanging from the shattered skeleton. It looks less like the terrifying force of nature that had chased them through the forest and more like a giant piece of roadkill. The root-like veins and that same, liquid shadow are all that glue its limbs and torso together, steam and smoke billowing from its broken body.

From the depths of the black mud, a crimson light glares at him with burning malice.

"Sheesh, is this how people feel when they fight me?"

Naruto tilts his head back, gazing up at the empty sky.

"Ah… what a shame," he says with a small, sad smile, lowering his gaze. "It was a nice dream."

The Elder Wendigo rises, steam and smoke billowing off its form, its eyes two pits of molten crimson.

He brings a hand to his face. Blue flashes gold, then bleeds into a burning crimson, the very same as the monster before him.

"I would have liked to dream a little longer."

* * *

 **AN: Hope this was worth the wait. Wasn't was polished as I would have liked, but meh. I'll save the questions for the end of this 'part'. Next chapter is just about finished. Should be out in the next day or so.**


	16. Chapter 16: Maelstrom(Part III)

_His chest is on fire._

 _It hurts to breathe._

 _A haze of red clouds his vision._

…

 _He hears a scream. And in the distance, the faintest rattle of chains. The red fades to black and he finds himself not in the middle of a sprawling forest but in the depths of a sewer. Yet while the trees and leaves become walls and pipes, the pain does not leave his body, the gash of fire over his chest leaking warmth and filling his insides with burning hot ash._

 _A black mist rolls over him. It squelches the flame on contact. The pain begins to fade. His conscious begins to slip, the sensation like that feeling before one wakes from a particularly deep sleep. And in his fading conscious, he manages the presence of mind to look up to the source of the black mist._

 _It is a simple matter of looking up. And up. And up. And up._

 _Bars. Black bars extending up as far as the eye can see, until they and the walls all disappear into shadow. It is a cage, the gap between the bars wide enough to fit three grown men, the magnitude of the space behind the bars incomprehensible to his child-like mind._

 _A span of infinite darkness. An abyss of unending shadow. And keeping the gates closed shut, all that stands between him and the source of the black mist, is a piece of paper._

 _A thin strip of paper with an array of shapes and symbols inked onto its surface._

' _What…?'_

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon

Chapter 16: Maelstrom(Part III)

* * *

 _ **Twang**_

A strange sound comes from behind him. Very far behind him. A dull snap, like the release of a giant bowstring. It distracts him just long enough to keep him from summoning his mask as the Elder Wendigo lunges at him, fangs bared and claws extended.

The greater grimm flies, a cobbled together mass of limbs and fur.

And an arrow of red intercepts it mid-flight.

" _ **#######-!"**_

The arrow meets the beast with a hollow clap of aura and steel. Crimson cleaves the beast's right arm from its shoulder, sending the grimm crashing to the ground. The disembodied limb tumbles across the dirt, scattering into-

"Rose petals…?"

"Naruto!"

Ruby appears before him in a flurry of red, silver eyes brimming with worry. "I'm so sorry! We tried to catch up as soon as we could, but you and the Wendi-thingy were just moving so fast-"

Naruto stares. The tension drains from his body, his eyes returned to a soft blue. He stares with a blank gaze, her words going in one ear and out the other, his brain trying and failing to reconcile the appearance of the girl in front of him with the fact that _she should be at the cliff not here, why is she here?_

Yet, one word manages to penetrate the haze of exhaustion and disbelief that clouds his mind.

"You… we?"

" _ **######################-!"**_

The dark giant rises with a screech, pieces of flesh and bone hanging from its frame. Motes of crimson flutter from the stump of its right shoulder, the black veins shriveling into nothingness on contact with the wound. Ruby puts herself in between Naruto and the beast as it crawls onto its feet, its upper body swaying back and forth as it clutches at the severed limb.

' _It's not regenerating…?'_

Black claws sink into the muscle around the wound. With a sickening crunch, the greater grimm rips off the chunk of its shoulder, a mess of shadowy roots becoming visible as the leathery hide splits, those roots tearing as the Wendigo tosses away the chunk of flesh, bone, and meat. The black beast roars, stumbling towards them even as the dark tendrils weave back together, growing, black blood seeping from the roots and forming into the mold of an arm as-

Another snap. It comes from the same place as before, from the blasted cliffs he leapt off from. A streak of yellow blazes across the sky and slams into the greater grimm. Its spine and back fold like an accordion as the golden fire uses the body of the shadow like a landing track, black blood leaving a trail of flesh, bone, and fur across the packed soil.

Hopping off the pile of fur, bone, and meat, Yang makes a beeline towards him, her eyes a furious crimson.

"I cannot believe you!" she yells, anger drowning out any hint of worry as she stomps across the crater. "Sticking together is, like, the first thing they teach you in any prep school! Were you actually trying to get yourself killed?! That has got to be the stupidest thing I've seen in… in…"

That anger vanishes as she gets close. Her eyes grow wide as she looks him over. There is a moment her hands clench and unclench, as if unable to decide whether or not she wants to punch him before she apparently decides against it and the red drains from her eyes.

"God, you're such a dumbass." She grabs his shoulder, gives him a small shake and waves a hand in front of his face, holding up three fingers. "There's so much blood…! Come on whiskers, talk to me. How many fingers am I holding up?"

That is enough to snap him out of his stupor. "What- three, what… what are you guys doing here?!"

"We were following behind you the whole time!"

"What," Naruto blanches, turning to Ruby with wide eyes. " _Why?!_ "

Her gaze goes to his missing arm and she looks away, the guilt clear on her face. "I'm sorry. I… I could have used my semblance to catch up, but you were both moving too fast for everyone else to keep up and it actually looked like you were winning for a bit there and I didn't want to get in the way a-again, and-"

"No, no-!" he interrupts her, shaking his head. "I mean… why… why did you come after me? Why didn't you go back to the cliffs?!"

A low rumbling growl interrupts their response. The Elder Wendigo rises, its upper body less a torso so much as a giant tangle of roots and veins. Its 'head' hangs from the 'shoulders', the bone visible beneath layers of muscle, its mask gone along with most of its face. A single crimson light glares at the trio as its jaw unhinges, the muscles of its cheeks visible as-

A third snap. The light goes out as a length of glowing white falls from the sky, the white greatsword taking out what's left of the head. The Wendigo's body going limp. The bloodlust doesn't fade in the slightest. A warbling ring comes from above, and Naruto looks up as Weiss descends on a trail of black glyphs.

' _You have_ _ **GOT**_ _to be kidding me right now.'_ he thinks as the heiress turns to him with a thunderous expression.

Forget shorting out their aura, forgot _forgetting about their powers_ when they fell from the Nevermore, of all the stupid, brainless, idiotic things they could have done-

"Yes, yes, 'what are you all doing here', 'you should have gone back to the cliffs', 'you're all a bunch of idiots', there, I said it for you." Weiss jeers at him.

"Now either help us figure out a way to put this beast down for good or shut up and let us save you."

* * *

"Can you handle the rest of the grimm on your own?"

Aura runs through the ribbon tied to her wrist, the material stretched taunt, the other end tied to a thin tree, bent almost into the shape of a sideways 'u'. In the distance, she can just see spots of red, white, yellow and orange with a great shadow a little bit away, impaled by a glowing length of white.

They had given chase to Naruto and the Wendigo through the forest, both the white-haired boy and the massive grimm moving at speeds only Ruby could have matched. They arrived at the cliff just in time to watch the younger boy level an entire track of the forest in an attempt to put down the greater grimm for good. It'd failed. And from this distance, by foot, none of them could have made it in time to save the weakened Naruto.

Then, Ruby had an idea. They formed a makeshift crossbow with her and Yang as the limbs, her ribbon as the string, Weiss as the sight and Ruby herself as the bolt.

First Ruby. Then, Yang and Weiss after the other boy, Ren, had calmed them down with his semblance(though how effective it was still remains to be seen. The two looked about ready to finish what the Wendigo had started). And now, finally, her, the rest of their group staying behind to fend off the grimm.

"We'll manage!" Jaune says, hiding behind his shield from the claws of a Beowolf. Pyrrha downs the grimm attacking her partner with a stray of bullets, the rifle shifting back into a spear and the point of the spear finding the throat of a charging Ursa. To the side, Nora whacks a Boarbatusk into a Deathstalker, stunning the giant scorpion grimm and giving Ren an opportunity to drive its stinger through the top of its head.

"Go!"

Blake nods. She turns towards the crater, releasing the aura anchoring her to the ground. The tree snaps up. Her ribbon slingshots her forward. A slash of her bladed sheath cuts clean through the tree, freeing her ribbon as she is thrown into open air.

The makeshift slingshot only manages to get her about half the distance between the cliffs and the crater before gravity starts to pull her down to the trees below. Her semblance rushes forward, the shadowed silhouette granting her a temporary foothold to push off from, giving her the last push she needs to reach the rim of the crater blasted into the forest by Naruto's attack.

She lands at the very tip of the hole in the forest, rolls, slides down the packed dirt at the edge, leaping forward with a second roll to bleed off the last of her momentum.

A flash of gold in the brown catches her eye as she makes her way over to the rest of them. She stops to pick it up. A gold pawn.

' _I didn't see any pieces like this at the temple,'_ Blake thinks to herself. Her eyes go to the only person in the area who could have gotten to the temple before them. The bloodied boy currently arguing with her partner and the Schnee.

He looks like death.

His complexion is pale, far, far too pale with dark crescents stretching out from under his eyes. His t-shirt is matted with blood, from his missing arm, from his right eye. The boy looks like someone who ought to have fallen unconscious three times over, from his arm, from exhaustion, from the sheer amount of blood loss. It is the first time she has ever seen anyone in such bad shape.

Even so, the whiskered boy is still, somehow, on his feet. Apparently still convinced he has to face the nightmarish grimm alone.

"Have you just not been paying attention, or did you somehow miss the _giant crater_ we're right now standing in?! What part of, 'I can't fight this thing with you guys around' don't you understand?!"

"The part where it looks like the only thing you should be trying to 'fight' is a bedsheet!" the Schnee snaps back at him. "You should be _grateful_ we're here to save you!"

"The only thing I need saving from is you peoples' stupidity!"

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?!"

"Oh, I don't know, why don't _you_ explain to me why I had to catch you when you fell at the temple, Ms. forgot-about-her-powers?!"

"Well, I didn't _ask_ you to catch me!"

"And I didn't ask you all to come chasing after me!"

"Alright guys, come on, come on, come on, really not the time to be arguing!" Ruby wedges herself between the two, trying to push them apart. "Still in the middle of initiation! Still a giant grimm trying to kill us!"

"Yeah, save the flirting for when we get back to Beacon!"

"" _It is_ _ **not**_ _flirting!""_

"Yang! Not helping!"

' _Do we really have the time to be talking like this?'_ Blake looks over to the Wendigo. The pile of twitching meat, ragged fur and writhing veins that was the Wendigo. _'… we do?'_

It is clear that as beat up as the whiskered boy may be, he dealt back everything and more to the monstrous beast. If not for him losing his arm, there is a good chance he very well may have been able to slay the grimm on his own. But, as it stands that _thing_ still appears to be alive, its conscious far outlasting its body, plant-like veins attempting to repair the damage to its physical form.

Basic combat logic dictates that they should be attacking it now. Hit it while it's weak. Put it down before it can regenerate.

But, as amber eyes observe the shadowy tendrils sewing flesh and bone back together piece by piece, the black mud that seems to flow without end from the 'body' of the horror, Blake cannot shake the feeling that their blades and their bullets will do little to stop the monster's rebirth.

They need to get out of here. Run away back to the cliffs and leave this thing for the professors to deal with.

And the only problem with _that_ is the whole reason they're here in the first place.

The fifteen-year-old boy with enough power to level an entire tract of the forest but not enough sense to realize there's no way a group of huntsmen and huntresses(in training) would abandon a boy two years their junior to fight something like this on his own.

"The only reason that overgrown dog-monkey-deer-rabbit-plant is trying to kill you is because you all decided to come chasing after me like a bunch of morons! What kind of power of friend-shit bull fuckery-!"

"Language~!" Yang singsongs, seemingly more relieved by the younger boy's anger than anything. Probably because it at least means he has the energy to spare to get angry and isn't on the edge of death.

"Language, my dick!" Naruto snaps back at her. "I don't get it! You all already have the relics! You don't have to fight this thing! Why did you come for me instead of going to the cliffs?!"

Weiss grabs his shirt and yanks him close with a hiss and a glare. "Because I did _not_ come to this school to learn how to protect the meaningless trinket of some old man."

That seems to finally get the message through to him. His lips pull into a disgruntled frown and Naruto glances away. Weiss releases his shirt. She crosses her arms and closes her eyes.

"… even if that old man is someone as esteemed as Professor Ozpin," she decides to add after a pause, under her breath.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Yang pats him on the back. "We're here to kick ass and save the day. Forget the stupid rocks."

"Though, you might want to hold onto this," Blake finally announces her presence, tossing the gold pawn at him.

He snatches it out of mid-air and seems almost to deflate. His lone eye looks at the pawn. Next, it sweeps over them, before finally on the mass of blood and shadow in the distance.

A sigh. "… Any chance you _actually_ have of a plan of how we're going to fight this thing?"

Ruby nods, what is probably intended to be a reassuring smile on her face. "Together!"

"That's not-" both Naruto and Weiss begin to say at the same time. They stop. Each glares at the other as if to say 'stop copying me'.

"Ruby, that's sort of not a plan," Blake decides to inform the younger girl in their place.

"Oh no, I don't mean like literally fighting together, I mean, like, working together!" Ruby explains. She points at the swelling mass across the crater. "Look at how long it's taking to put itself back together! We can buy you the time to rest! If you can hit it again with another attack like that-!"

"No way, you guys won't be able to get out of the blast radius in time," Naruto interrupts her. He winces. His lips twist into a scowl as he glares in the direction of her finger. "But…"

First, an arm emerges from the tangle of roots and mud, fur soaked and matted in blood. The body follows. At first glance, the beast appears no worse for wear, its current appearance near identical to when it had first appeared before the students, prior to its assimilation of the giant Nevermore.

Yet creaks and cracks leak from its body with every motion. Just visible in the layers of ragged fur are what appear to be pieces of wood, piercing the creature's joints and limbs, as if to hold them together.

"I think she has the right idea."

His expression tightens like a string drawn to the point of snapping. His fist clenches. His eye flicks away, a noticeable twitch in his whiskered cheeks. It is as if the entirety of his being is railing against the words he is about to say, as though the very thought is some sort of deep, personal betrayal.

"I… have something else." Naruto forces out through clenched teeth. "Something that should be able to make sure that thing stays down for good."

"Really?!" Ruby perks up.

"But the last time I used it I had to use five hands. Me plus two clones. One to help me shape my aura the other to convert it into wind."

"Oh…" with that, the younger girl wilts, all the enthusiasm rushing out of her with a guilty glance at his missing arm.

"Can we help you form it?" Blake asks. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for him to even bring it up.

"Yeah, no, nothing that sappy," Naruto rolls his shoulders back, flexing his hand. "Since I've only got the one to work with I'm just going to need you guys to hold it off for a bit."

"Alright, so we just gotta wail on this thing until whiskers blows it to hell?" Yang grins, slamming her fists together. "Sounds like a plan to me!"

"Any reason in particular you couldn't have just done that when we arrived instead of being a blockheaded buffoon about fighting this monster by yourself?" Weiss jeers at him.

"You mean other than my body still being half numb from turning that thing into a pile of mulch? Which is, by the way, the only reason it hasn't been attacking us?"

"…Fair."

Blake steps over to her partner's side, her katana held at the ready. "Well, you did say you were looking for a big, climactic fight."

"Yeah, Yang, why'd you have to jinx us!" Ruby whines, jabbing her scythe in the air like a pitchfork.

The accused gives a sheepish chuckle. "Would you believe me if I said this isn't exactly what I had in mind?"

" _ **#############-!"  
**_

* * *

The Elder Wendigo rushes forward on all fours, charging at them like an overgrown dog.

White snowflakes bloom beneath the giant grimm. A trail of glyphs freezes the earth. It fails to slow the beast in the slightest, black claws piercing the ice, digging into the frozen dirt as it all but catapults itself forward, attempting to flatten them beneath its weight.

Twisted horns form an oncoming wall of spikes. Ruby and Weiss grab Naruto, a black glyph forming beneath their feet and catapulting them to safety. Blake leaps away. Yang rolls to the side. The Wendigo crashes into the earth, plowing through the dirt. It claws itself back to its feet, whirling towards the red and white trio, muscles tensing as it prepares to leap after them.

"Oh no, you don't!"

A blaze of gold crashes into the shadow, sending them both tumbling onto the ground. Yang puts herself between the beast and her little sister, her eyes a fiery crimson and her hair a glowing gold.

"You want to get to them, first you go through me!"

A curt rumble is the response. The crimson of its eyes gleam in recognition and the Wendigo flexes its clawed hands.

It is slower than when it chased him through the forest. Its strikes do not carry the same force that splintered trees and shook the earth. Yet, despite its weakened state, a mistimed dodge is all the opening the greater grimm needs to send the blond bruiser tumbling across the dirt.

Naruto clicks his tongue, raising his hand.

"No, you-!" Weiss grabs his wrist, forcing his arm down. "Rest! Gather your strength! You said you have something that can put this monster down for good? Then get ready to use it! We can take care of ourselves!"

Sure enough, the recoil from a single round from her gauntlet is enough to push her out of the way as the Wendigo descends, putting its fist through the earth. Yang rolls back to her feet, taking a defensive stance as the beast falls upon her once more. It is a whirlwind of force and devastation, almost resembling a child haphazardly swatting at a fly. There is no thought to its swings, no form to its movements. Yet, for what the giant grimm lacks in technique, it more than makes up for in speed and power.

"That's right!" Ruby perks up as Blake goes to support her partner. "Weiss, you have some dust, right?! What kind of dust do you need for your jutsu, Naruto?"

"Wind. Do you have any wind dust?"

Black claws slash at her. Yang rolls to the side and her boot slips, each of the Wendigo's strikes having loosened the packed dirt. The next blow comes, and all she can do is cross her arms in a guard as the giant fist slams into her. She skips across the crater like a pebble over water. The Elder Wendigo takes to the air. Blake dives in, grabbing her partner, a shadowy silhouette shoving them both out of the way as the greater grimm descends, meeting the earth in an eruption of soil and force.

"This is all I have left," Weiss says, pressing a jar of green dust into Naruto's hand. "Is it enough?"

His fingers close around the jar. He clenches his hand into a fist. The glass shatters against his aura-reinforced skin. Flame ignites the dust, yellow and green mix into a torrent of surging blue, white-blue winds howling as they circle around him.

"I'll make do," Naruto says, funneling aura into the vortex of aura surrounding him, his left eye alight with a brilliant gold as it turns back to the rampaging Wendigo.

He watches as Ruby and Weiss go to join Blake and Yang, the four doing what they can to buy him as much time as they can.

Time? Time for what?

To complete his technique? To kill the Elder Wendigo? He doesn't need any preparation to do that. With the greater grimm already weakened as it is, he can probably end it with a single tail. There is no reason to wait to finish forming this stupid jutsu. Right here, right now, he can put an end to this pitiful charade.

So why hasn't he?

It is more than stubbornness but less than pride. The hopeless wish of a child who could never protect anything, who was always too weak and too slow when it really mattered. Someone who could only ever let others pay the price for his weakness.

But now, it is different. Now, he is no longer that child. The Demon Fox is no longer just a name and a ghost that haunts the depths of his dreams. It(he) is the youngest criminal to ever receive an S-rank designation in the Bingo Book. It(he) is a monster feared the world over, the kind parents warn their children about at night.

The power of the Demon Fox. _His_ power. An absolute strength to crush even the nightmare before him in an instant.

He needs only use it.

So why hasn't he?

…

The moment one of their auras break. The second he sees the tell-tale flux of the Kingdom's shielding technique breaking, he'll put an end to this.

Even if he has to use his tails.

* * *

 _The last of his conscious fades. The feeling is like falling backwards through water, a brief lull of engulfing nothingness followed by an onslaught of sensations as he comes up to breath, coming awake with a desperate gasp for air._

 _The motion sends a spike of pain ping-ponging through his body. Bright blue snaps open to behold green and brown and red, something wet and warm covering, leaking, from his chest, soaking into his shirt._

 _He tries to get up. He only manages to prop himself up on his arms, his entire body feeling like there is an Ursa sitting on it. One for each part he tries to move. Still, he is able to shift himself into a position to see the shadow and his friends, not far away from him._

 _The pink haired girl is frozen in place, hands clasped over her mouth, eyes wide as they stare at the crimson pooling around the whiskered boy._

 _The black-haired boy is a blur of motion._

 _The Alpha Beowolf lunges at him, slashing and biting, the grimm an order of magnitude faster than the small child. Even so, the boy is somehow able to dance away from the beast's claws and fangs each time, his eyes a hypnotic scarlet with a single comma orbiting each pupil. Grief twists the boy's fine features into a terrifying mask of focused fury. His lips are pressed into a thin, flat line. His eyes are wide, brow pinched in the slightest of glares. It is as if the possibility of his own death or injury is a mere afterthought to vengeance on the shadowy beast as he stabs at the Alpha Beowolf with a small black knife, a multitude of cuts littering the ragged black fur._

 _But it is obvious to anyone which of the two will win. While the cuts are numerous, they are shallow. And while the claws fail to reach the boy, his growing exhaustion is obvious._

 _He won't last much longer._

 _The whiskered boy tries again to rise. He fails. A sharp pain pierces his chest, fire drawing a line from his shoulder to just below his ribs. Even so, he manages to roll onto his side, one arm still propping himself up, the other pressed against bloody gash over his chest._

 _The injury would have killed most children his age in an instant. A wound that deep would have felled most adults, trained warriors and veteran fighters._

 _Even so, the boy forces himself to move. First onto his stomach. Then onto his knees. And finally, one leg. He takes one step, attempting to rise, only to collapse onto the ground again as all of the strength flees from his legs._

 _A wave of heat washes over him. He looks up to see a ball of fire engulf the Alpha Beowolf, a stream of flame spewing from the black-haired boy's lips. The other boy falls to his knees as soon as the stream fades, panting as his eyes fade back to black and sweat drips down his brow._

 _It isn't enough._

 _Had the boy poured all of his aura into the ninjutsu at the very start, the heat of the flames may have been enough to fell the beast. But a combination of his newly awakened semblance and a sloppiness in the molding of his aura, born from the emotional turmoil of seeing his friend apparently killed by the grimm, had sapped the heat from the flames._

 _The wolfen shadow stalks towards the downed boy. And stops as a pebble bounces across the ground next to its feet._

 _The rock had been thrown at the beast's head. With barely the strength even to stand, it is no surprise the whiskered boy's throw had missed. Even so, the Alpha Beowolf looks to the blood-soaked boy as a second pebble bounces across the ground at its feet._

 _It hurts to breathe. It hurts to stand. It feels as though there are lead chains wrapped around every inch of his body. Yet, despite the pain that threatens to drown his conscious, the whiskered boy stands._

 _Because, even if he is the dead last, even if he is useless and hasn't unlocked his aura, he knows one thing._

 _That negative emotions attract the grimm more than anything else._

 _Eyes that look at him and see something else. The cold eyes with which just about every adult in the village looks to him._

 _A denied existence. A time from before he met the black-haired boy and the pink-haired girl. The way every person in the village seems to try their hardest to pretend he doesn't exist._

 _The memories pierce his heart like a knife. It hurts. It hurts even more than the claws that opened his body. Even so, he takes that knife and drives it deeper still, until it feels like a hole has been carved into his chest._

 _At last, the grimm turns away from the black-haired boy. And blue eyes meet black._

' _Run.'  
_

* * *

Six shells left. Two in her left gauntlet. Four in her right.

The arm falls and she has to fire off a round from her right to move out of the way in time. A backhand knocks her away, the blow rattling her teeth even through her aura. She rolls, tumbles across the dirt and jumps back to her feet, ejecting the empty casing from her right gauntlet.

Two in her left. Three in her right.

A pure-white glyph blooms to life behind the beast, the plated arm slashing at the greater grimm from behind. Black blood spurts into the air. The greatsword of ice bites into the Elder Wendigo's collarbone, the blade becoming stuck midway through its chest.

" _ **#######-!"**_

One hand grasps the top of the greatsword. A punch shatters the length of the blade. The dark giant swings its arm back, the back of its fist meeting the armored limb, the limb and armor both folding like cardboard before shattering into stardust, shadowy tendrils already sewing the wound back together as it throws itself across the crater at the limb's summoner.

Yang grinds her teeth together, doing her best to ignore the burning in her muscles as she charges after the nightmarish monster. Her partner arrives at her side, and shortly after, a flurry of rose petals.

"Yang, Blake!" Her sister calls out. "Slingshot! Go for its legs!"

Ruby vanishes into rose petals. Blake nods, tossing Yang her ribbon.

"Gotta think of a better name than slingshot!" Yang can't help but smirk as the two of them break, each running in a different direction, the ribbon between them stretching taunt.

Gunshots crack off the Wendigo's hide. It smashes through a wall of ice like it was sand. Weiss flips back as black claws carve a gouge into the ground. The second swing comes too quick. It slices the dirt beneath her feet upward, throwing her into the air.

The Wendigo draws its fist back. Her eyes widen, then squeeze shut. Weiss curls herself into a ball, a black glyph appearing between her and the beast as its arm snaps forward, a flurry of rose petals knocking her out of the way as the fist smashes through the glyph like a piece of paper.

Ruby and Weiss crash into the dirt. Crimson eyes turn towards the two. Then, snap to the side as Blake swings her partner around the crater, the two forming a makeshift flail as Yang smashes into and through the greater grimm's legs.

The sound is more like wood than bone. The Elder Wendigo falls and Yang continues running, keeping her momentum. Blake anchors herself with aura. This time she heaves the ribbon forward, the aura-enhanced cloth ripping, almost snapping, as Yang rockets forward as if shot from a crossbow.

The beast manages to claw itself back to a rising position. It draws an arm back, one leg half-formed, the other braced against the earth. Both of their fists fly and a shockwave of force ripples through the dirt.

The Wendigo's arm folds like an accordion. Yang bites back a wince as the impact numbs her right arm. With its other arm, the beast swings at her. Black claws slice through the air, each the length of her entire body, each with enough force to slice clean through the remains of her aura.

A shell from her left slams her into the ground, the swipe passing over her. A second round throws her out of the way as the Wendigo puts its half-broken arm through the packed dirt and soil.

Yang rolls onto her feet. She clenches and unclenches her right hand, trying to get some of the feeling back in her arm.

One on the left. Two in the right.

They can't keep this up much longer.

How Naruto managed to fight this thing on his own for so long, with one arm no less, she'll never know.

What's worse is that she can tell it's weakened. If the beast had fought them at full strength, they wouldn't have stood a chance. It would have slaughtered them. If Naruto hadn't blasted it to smithereens before they arrived, if he hadn't covered for them, if he hadn't pushed Ruby out of the way…

Yang forces her right hand into a fist, pushing the thought out of her mind with a silent promise to make it up to the boy after all of this is over.

A cloud of rose petals rushes between the beast's legs. Ruby materializes out of the cloud, delivering a slash to the back of its left knee. The Wendigo falls and she dissolves into a mass of fluttering crimson, rushing away. It catches itself with one hand. Crimson eyes glare after the fleeing rose petals. With its other arm, it grabs its wounded leg-

" _ **########-!"**_

-and rips off the limb with an unearthly shriek, hurling it at the fleeing cloud of rose petals. The disembodied leg catches Ruby just as she comes out of her semblance. She crashes into the dirt. The Wendigo crouches on its lone leg, arms digging into the dirt as it prepares to pounce on the downed girl.

A blur of black slashes out its right leg. The Wendigo falls to a knee. A flash of white encases the wounded leg in ice, stopping it from regenerating. It attempts to smash the ice trapping its leg, only for Blake to leap onto its head, driving her katana into one of its eyes.

" _ **#########!"**_

Black blood sprays as she frees her katana and jumps down from the beast's head. Black claws slice at her. They only manage to find the corporeal shadows she leaves behind with each dodge, the bladed sheath in her left hand and the katana in her right slicing into the greater grimm's arms as it bats at her from its prone position.

Its right leg finishes regenerating. The Wendigo attempts to rise. Crimson shoots across the crater, the blades of Ruby's weapon snapping toward as she drives the war-scythe into and through the back of the knee of the newly regenerated leg, forcing the giant monster back to its knees.

A clawed hand balls into a fist. The beast raises an arm to smash the silver-eyed girl into paste. A white glyph blooms to life behind the shoulder of the raised arm, the tip of a pure white greatsword piercing through the beast's shoulder and causing its right arm to fall limp to the ground.

Weiss grits her teeth, beads of sweat dripping down her face as she puts everything she has into keeping the sword and arm manifested, to keep the blade pinning the beast's right arm.

Its other arm raises. Blake drives her katana into the left shoulder, winds the ribbon attached to the hilt around the arm and jumps off. She plants her feet, anchors herself with aura and pulls, attempting to trap the monster's only remaining arm.

With a snarl, the Wendigo yanks its arm back. The giant beast's strength rips her from her feet and she is thrown into the air, still desperately hanging onto the ribbon wrapped around its left arm.

And Yang descends, two rounds having gone into launching her into the air, her last shell going straight into the Wendigo's skull as her fist meets the black mask with a thunderous impact. The blow is enough to stun the greater grimm. It reels back and Yang leaps to catch her partner, the both of them grabbing the ribbon and pulling with all their might the second they touch the ground.

For a moment, all is still.

Ice traps its left leg.

Ruby pins its right leg to the ground with her sniper-scythe.

Weiss focuses with everything she has on keeping summoned the greatsword piercing its right shoulder.

Blake and Yang restrain its left arm, the katana biting into its shoulder and the ribbon wrapped around its arm trapping the limb.

" _ **#####_!"**_

"Come on whiskers!" Yang growls, struggling against the raw power of the giant grimm, even prone, even with a greatsword piercing it through the torso. "Don't you know-!" a grunt. "-it's rude to keep a lady waiting?!"

She glances over to see just what is taking the younger boy so long.

For a moment, she sees nothing. The whiskered boy is nowhere to be found, the only evidence of his presence a slight but definite buzzing, like an industrial fan muted to the point of silence. Then, as if seeing that they actually managed to trap the greater grimm, seeing that he no longer needs to hide his presence, the barrier of wind falls.

Light pours out unto the crater.

He stands in a vortex of swirling white-blue energy. It is aura. Enough aura to become visible to the naked eye, the whiskered boy a maelstrom of light and power. A sound fills the air, the high-pitched whine of a countless number of blades being sharpened against one another. A hurricane of spiraling light descends upon the forest and he stands at its core, his left hand raised to the eye of the storm, a shining orb hovering above his palm.

Blood pours from his right eye like a faucet. His left eye is wide and unblinking, almost bulging out of the socket. His breathing is short and forced. The muscles in his entire body are clenched, as if it is all he can do to keep from being crushed under the power of his own technique.

Even from this distance, it is clear that it is taking him everything he has just to keep what appears to be a literal _bomb_ of aura from blowing up on him.

Yang can't help but feel a _slight_ tinge of anger at the younger boy.

' _My god…! Of course, that idiot would try to use a technique that could blow up in his face like that with only one arm…!'_

If- _When_ they get out of this, she swears she is going to teach him the definition of a little word called _self-preservation._

For a moment, the Wendigo goes still as it sees the maelstrom of white-blue aura. Then, the crimson lights of its eyes seem almost to brighten in panic. Its thrashing returns twofold, the greater grimm desperately attempting to free itself.

And at that moment, two things happen.

First, a sound comes from the glyph, a noise like fracturing glass. The light blinks out and the glyph fades, the greatsword shattering into dust as Weiss drops to her knees, a sheen of white flickering over her body.

Next, the ribbon snaps. Blake and Yang both tumble back as their anchor breaks.

And with its arm finally freed, with no other target in reach, with her attention focused on her partner suddenly falling to her knees, Ruby is too slow to dodge as the back of the beast's massive fist smashes into her.

Crimson flies. The blow sends her careening across the crater and she crashes into the side of the depression. She falls, tumbles to the ground and doesn't move, an unmoving lump of crimson and black, dark red static flickering over her form.

"Ruby-!"

Yang scrambles to her feet, attempting to rush to her sister's side.

A mass of black slams into her, very nearly shattering her aura as it sends her to the ground. The beast's right leg, Crescent Rose still impaled through the knee.

Still, she forces herself back to her feet.

Her eyes flash crimson. Her hair ignites. Fire and light erupt around her as she draws upon her semblance and rushes for the lumbering giant, its wounds already healed. Rage, desperation and a burning strength fill her as she leaps at the Elder Wendigo.

"Stay away from her-!"

* * *

She returns to consciousness with the taste of iron in her mouth and a feeling of weakness in her limbs.

Ruby tries to push herself up off the dirt. The ground swims beneath her. Everything is blurry. She tries to stand, only for a wave of nausea to sweep over her.

' _My aura…'_ she rolls onto her back, feeling a dull ache in the very depths of her soul, and props herself up on trembling arms. _'With only one hit…?'_

"Stay away from her!"

The world comes back into focus just in time for her to see the monster barreling towards her on one and a half legs, a half-formed right leg where Crescent Rose once impaled its knee, just in time to see a blaze of yellow slam into it. Her big sister. Yang smashes into the beast, sending it to the ground, laying into the beast's legs with flaming fists and all of the fury her semblance can muster.

The Wendigo grabs her, slams her against the ground and throws her to the side, the glow fading from her hair.

It is a small relief that instead of finishing off her sister, the monster instead turns its attention back to her.

Just like how it ran straight past Naruto when it first caught up to their group.

It claws at the earth, almost desperately pulling itself across the crater, snarling and snapping, crimson lights focused only and solely on her, affixed with a wicked intent. The monster crawls to its feet as its legs finish regenerating and prepares to leap, to take to the sky, not to escape but to execute her with all of the force it can muster-

Blake strikes first, dropping onto its shoulder, slicing open its neck with the bladed sheath. She grabs her katana, tries to free it and fails.

The creature's black hand grabs her. It squeezes, a faint purple outline creaking against the pressure, before hurling her across the crater, crimson lights turning back on her.

"N-no…" Ruby forces herself to stand. Her legs feel like jelly. Something warm drips down the side of her head. She searches for Crescent Rose, finding her weapon impossibly far away, the limb it was impaled through having dissolved into rose petals. "I…"

Again the nightmare drops to all fours, about to lunge at her. Again, it is stopped. A white greatsword cleaves through the air as flickering gold leaps across the field. The blade bites deep into the Wendigo's shoulder. Yang's punch dislocates its knee. In an instant, the joint pops back into place. The monster grabs her and throws her at Weiss in the distance, both of the two crumbling onto the ground.

They've been fighting all morning. She has nothing left. Forget using her semblance, it feels as though she can barely even stand. Even if she somehow manages to dodge the first attack, there's no way she will be able to avoid the second. With how weak her aura is, she won't be able to block even a glancing blow, let alone a direct hit.

" _ **############-!"**_

The Elder Wendigo shrieks, hurling itself through the air, its right arm raised, black claws poised to splatter the ground in red.

And she hears it. A sound clear, like a bell.

Had she been more conscious, she might have noticed the maelstrom of white explode into a pillar of gold. Were she not still reeling from the blow that nearly shattered her aura in a single hit, she might have seen that gold form into three tails. And if she was not entirely focused on the beast so desperately trying to kill her, she may have seen those tails forming into clawed hands and those hands forcing the vortex of swirling white aura into a point in an instant.

But instead, all she sees is a familiar back appear before her, standing between her and the darkness, a great star of spiraling light held in his left hand, four blades orbiting a sphere of pure white, a faint cloud of light blue and gold surrounding the star.

" _ **Fuuton:-"**_

An explosion of force. He thrusts the star forward, like a shield, the spiraling light meeting the dark meteor in an eruption of wind and sound. The impact very nearly knocks her off her feet. The creature's claw evaporates on contact with the light, as if it was little more than a shadow. The ringing becomes louder and louder as the rotating blades accelerate, losing their form as the sphere expands to engulf the giant beast.

" _ **-Rasenshuriken."**_

The massive ball of light shoots forward. The recoil sends Naruto flying back. Ruby just has the presence of mind to catch him as the light soars over the edge of the crater, disappearing deep into the forest.

"Is…" the whiskered boy is light in her arms. Almost too light. In a hesitant voice, she asks. "Is it over?"

"No."

She feels her stomach drop as he answers in a flat tone.

Then, day turns to night.

Light erupts from the forest. The ensuring shockwave knocks her off her feet, the both of them going down in a tangle of limbs as a dome of white-blue aura eclipses the horizon, the sound of what she can only describe as an infinite number of blades slicing everything and anything that happened to be caught in the dome's radius into nothingness echoing across the sky.

"Alright," Naruto grunts from on top of her. He closes his eyes, sighs and drops his head down, the position in which they fell more or less causing him to bury his face in her boobs. "Now it's over."

Ruby smiles.

* * *

 _The Alpha advances with blood-stained claws._

 _Crimson lights leer at the whiskered boy._

 _And blink out as a whirlwind of black cleaves the Alpha Beowolf's head from its shoulders._

 _It happens almost too fast for the whiskered boy to see. The man is a blur as he shoots from the trees and descends on the grimm, the black scythe in his hands tracing a dark crescent through the air as it takes the neck of the beast in one fell swoop._

 _He lands. The head of the Alpha Beowolf lands behind him. The blade of the scythe detaches from the head and the handle folds in on itself. The man returning both pieces of the weapon to his back as he checks on the other two children with a quick glance._

" _Stay here. There aren't any other grimm in the area. I called the patrol squad on my way here, they should be over soon. I'm taking Naruto to the hospital."_

 _They nod. The man, dressed in the standard issue vest and uniform of their village, approaches him and the whiskered boy looks away. He knows who this man is. They all know. Which is why any sense of relief is quashed by the unshakable emptiness left in his heart by the thoughts of his past, his present and the future that is sure to involve yelling._

 _Lots and lots of yelling._

 _But there is no yelling, no screaming or lecturing. The man picks him up gently in his arms and takes to the trees, the world around him becoming a blur of green and brown as they leap branch to branch._

" _How…?" the boy asks._

 _How did he know to find them? No one should have known. That's why they choose this time to have their little expedition. No one would be looking for them. No one would have thought to stop them._

 _No one should have come to save them._

 _The man glances down at him. He glances down at the blood-soaked shirt and his eyes darken with worry. Then, the man looks him in the eyes, giving him a small, soft smile._

 _He had always thought the man looked scary with his harsh features and the jagged scar over the bridge of his nose. And yet, at that moment, that smile alone is enough to put him at ease, like a promise that tells him not to worry and that everything is going to be okay._

" _The village was a bit too quiet."_

 _With that, the man turns his eyes forwards, a grim look of determination on his features. The whiskered boy continues to stare at the man's face. It doesn't take long for the tension and adrenaline keeping him conscious to fade, his eyelids beginning to droop._

"… _oh."_

 _And so, the whiskered boy falls asleep, a small warmth in his chest._

* * *

 **AN: I just need to not say I'm going to do a double release and just do it. Because whenever I say I want to do it, something always inevitably ends up getting in the way.**

 **I made a forum. Link is on my profile. I'll probably be posting reflections/the responses to reviews I feel other people might care to see.**

 **Now, for this chapter. Fucking hell.** **In my original draft, the last three chapters were all one, long, forty page monster. I tried to cut out some of the padding/fighting from this last part. I'll leave how successful it was up to the readers.**

 **-Was the fighting in this last part more tolerable?**

 **-Thoughts on the flashback? There's a sort of meta-reason for it being there, but I still want to know whether or not it took away from the chapter/s as a whole.**

 **Next chapter should wrap everything up. Hype for RWBY volume 6!**


	17. Chapter 17: White(Part I)

"That was _sooo_ cool! What was that?! I've never seen a ninjutsu like that before! I mean, it's not like I've seen too many jutsus because, you know, ninjas and all, but that was _amazing_! Especially the way it went all 'BOOOOM' at the end and exploded into that huge ball of light! What was that? Can you do it with other elements, too? Oh, oh! Can you do it with other _weapons_?!"

"You are way too chirpy for someone who probably has a concussion."

"This coming from the talking corpse."

It is a fragile balance that keeps the three of them standing upright, Ruby and Weiss both half leaning on him and half on each other, both partners working together to hoist Naruto's limp body as they move through the forest.

After obliterating the Elder Wendigo with the _Spiraling Shuriken_ , he was too exhausted to even stand. Molding and firing off enough wind-natured aura to level a city tends to do that to a person. Fortunately, Ruby saw the chance to help and repay her new friend and jumped on it with all the enthusiasm she could muster, offering to piggyback him back to the cliff.

Unfortunately, in her eagerness, the silver-eyed girl had forgotten to account for her own injuries and fatigue.

The result was a sort of thing whose description is better left to the porn books authored by certain self-proclaimed, super pervert.

Yang made a joke about 'mounting' and 'at least waiting until they get back to Beacon'. Ruby very quickly turned the same color as her hood. Naruto was unamused. In the end, it took the combined efforts of Ruby and Weiss to support him, neither of the partners in any shape to do it on their own.

After they met up with the others, Ruby insisted she be the one to carry him. For whatever reason. Weiss huffed and complained but stayed by her partner's side in the end.

"Anyway…" he addresses Ruby, not bothering to move his head to look at her with his good eye. "Functionally, the shape is just a means to contain the aura. The whole reason it's a shuriken is to accommodate the amount of aura I'm shoving into it. As much as they could cut through pretty much anything like butter, the main role of the blades is to keep the aura stabilized at the core."

"So, it's like a self-perpetuating spiral, sort of thing? The spinning blades would create a centrifugal force that keeps the aura stabilized in the sphere while the rotation from the core-."

"Neeeeeeerd!" A voice shouts from behind them, Yang supported by Blake, the black and yellow partners following just behind them.

"You're a nerd!" her reply is equally as quick as it is childish. As the silver-eyed girl begins to argue with her sister, Naruto turns his gaze ahead, his mind doing what it can to trudge through the haze of exhaustion dulling his thoughts.

In the end, it wasn't enough. In the end, he had to release his tails to finish forming the _Rasenshuriken_.

In the end, he still failed.

' _Shinobi… huntsman… I guess, in the end, I'm just not a person suited for that kind of role, huh?'_

It was an amusing thought. A dream he'd have liked to see to its end. But now, all that is left is to wake up to the harshness of reality and figure out what he is going to do from here.

One of Ozpin's conditions for him to attend Beacon was for him to not use his tails. That he would be at Beacon as 'Naruto Uzumaki' and not 'the Demon Fox'. And in the end, it wasn't Naruto Uzumaki whose power defeated the Elder Wendigo, but that of the Demon Fox.

He doubts anyone in the forest had seen him unleash his tails. They were probably focused on the grimm and Ruby. Any cameras or surveillance devices the headmaster may have installed also probably went the same way as the rest of the surrounding forest. But there is always the chance that Ozpin or one of the teachers were still watching with some sort of observational semblance.

' _Should I say anything?'_ Naruto thinks to himself. _'Do I need to say anything?'_

As far as he can tell, this can play out one of three ways.

Ozpin didn't see and does nothing. Ozpin did see and expels him. Or Ozpin did see but does nothing.

The problem is, he doesn't know whether or not the headmaster was even watching in the first place.

It would be stupid to take the man at face value. If nothing else, working in the underground for over a third of his life has taught him that everyone has a motive. An agenda. Some sort of want or need that drives them to do the things they do.

Them being upfront about that motive and that motive being one of ill-intent are separate things entirely.

Ignorance and stupidity are not the same as deceit and maliciousness. But, somehow, he doubts anyone would use either of those first two words to describe someone with the title of 'the Great and Terrible'.

So, what is he going to do?

"-ruto! Hellooo~, Naruto?!"

A voice in his right ear pulls him from his thoughts. Wolfie. The start of this whole mess. He cranes his head around to look at her with his good eye. "Mm?"

The motion puts his face inches from hers. She jolts, her eyes widen, and she very quickly looks away.

… ?

"I just wanted to say, um… it was really cool, the way you blew up the Wendigo and stuff…" she mumbles, half to him, half to her feet. "And I'm, erm… sorry about your arm."

"Eh, don't sweat it," he glances back at the stump, still wrapped in the red cloth torn from her hood. "This sort of thing is actually pretty typical for me."

Her eyes snap up to meet his, wide with disbelief. "Really?"

"Everything's going well, hit a small roadblock and then try and do my best to hang on as everything just goes full FUBAR?" With a dry expression, Naruto pretty much sums up the events of their initiation. "Yup, that sounds about right to me. All things considered, I'd say it went pretty well. You know, minus the arm."

"And a few brain cells, apparently," Weiss grumbles. "Now, don't you have anything to say? Maybe a little 'sorry for making you run all this way for no good reason, _Weiss_ ', perhaps a bit of 'thank you for not leaving me behind, _Ms. Schnee'_?"

Naruto looks to the girl, silent, his expression blank and unreadable. He turns his gaze forward. "Yeah, I guess I do have something to say."

"You're all a bunch of idiots."

Ruby grumbles. Weiss glares. Blake rolls her eyes and Yang smirks.

"The four morons who would have gotten themselves killed against the overgrown dog-monkey-deer-rabbit-plant-mulch monster if I hadn't thrown everything I had against it," He turns his eye on other idiots. The secondary idiots.

Jaune and Pyrrha both sheepishly trying to avoid his gaze. "The two dumbasses who shorted out their aura and couldn't fight the whole time."

"The two…"

Ren returns an amused glance. Nora just kind of looks confused, as if to say 'what did I do?'. A moment passes and Naruto quirks his lips. "… Actually, never mind. You two are good. The rest of you are all idiots, though."

Weiss opens her mouth and takes in a great breath of air, no doubt preparing to chew him out for being 'ungrateful' and 'unappreciative' and other big, self-important words.

"But-"

Naruto interrupts her. He lets out another sigh. As if to let the tension finally drain from his body, he closes his eye and lets his head hang. And in a small, almost inaudible voice, he says, "… thanks for coming back for me…. I guess..."

Another pause. His eye opens again and looks right at Weiss, the heiress seemingly satisfied with at least his appreciation.

"… _Sneeze."_

The satisfaction melts away in an instant.

"Why you-! I cannot believe you! What kind of ungrateful, unappreciative, immature-!"

Looking back at the two, Jaune lets out a wistful sigh.

"Is something the matter?" Pyrrha asks.

"Oh no, it's nothing," Jaune shakes his head. "Just… tired, I guess. Even if it feels like we didn't do much."

"Yeah!" Nora bemoans, waving her arms. "They all got their epic showdown against a crazy powerful grimm! Why didn't _we_ get to fight a crazy powerful grimm?! What happened to our spotlight?! Where's our epic showdown?! Our fifth ranger?! How come _we_ don't get a fishcake?!"

"Fishcake?" Jaune asks Pyrrha.

"I believe 'Naruto' can mean fishcake."

"You mean like… that thing they put on ramen?"

Pyrrha smiles and nods. Jaune lets out a chuckle, then another sigh.

"I don't know," he looks back at Weiss and Naruto. "I guess I'm just a little jealous of how close they are already. I mean, it's only been, what? A day? And they're already like that?"

Pyrrha looks back at the two. "… close?"

"I'd rather not be lectured on immaturity by a girl's whose chest could be used as a washing board."

"Naruto-!"

"Oh, you sure do love to talk about growth for someone who has yet to even finish _puberty_. It's a good thing you're so _short,_ otherwise we might have had trouble carrying you."

"Weiss?!"

"Still taller than you."

"Still a child."

"Well, at least I'm not the same height as someone two years younger than me. Oh yeah, you're wearing heels too, right? That means you're even shorter than red over here! So, ha!"

"Wha- No I'm not!"

"Yeah, I'm wearing boots too, so-!"

"You totally are."

"I am not, you insufferable little-! Ugh! Can't you be _slightly_ less annoying until we get back to Beacon? I _am_ helping carry you. You ought to be grateful for my generosity."

"I would gladly give up the opportunity to feel up your non-existent boobs for the ability to walk on my own two feet again."

"I will drop you."

"Wait, Weiss, he's injured, so-!"

"Your heart is every bit as cold as your fingers. Can't you see I'm crippled? You should be nice to the cripple."

"Your arm is nowhere near as crippled as your head!"

"Uuuugh~, can't you two give it a rest?!"

...

* * *

"Welcome back."

The professors meet them not far from where they were first launched into the forest. There is no kindness in Goodwitch's voice. Its tone boarders on callousness for all the hardship they have been through. Yet, none of them miss the way her gaze pauses and lingers on Naruto's tattered form before she continues to address them.

"You are the last students to return," she recites, as though reading from a script. "With this, the examination period is over. We will now take your relics."

Without waiting for a response, she raises her hand, palm open and upward. The relics fly out of their pockets and bags, hovering in a circle above her palm. She flicks her wrist. The relics vanish in a flash of purple.

"Congratulations," she continues without missing a beat, folding her hands behind her back. "You are all now students of Beacon Academy. Make sure to conduct yourselves accordingly. Normally, we would hold the ceremony to announce the teams directly after initiation. However…"

A microscopic sigh escapes her lips and she closes her eyes.

"Professor Ozpin and I both agree that you are all deserving of some time to rest and make yourselves… presentable."

The huntress instructor casts a non-too-subtle glance at the only one of them to look like they went through a woodchipper.

Naruto returns a flat stare, a silent promise in his eye that only one of those two things will be happening.

"We have to go do something right after getting back from all of that?" Ruby blanches.

"Under normal circumstances," Goodwitch confirms with a glance at the younger girl. "But these events have been far from normal. We did not account for, nor did we expect, the presence of a greater grimm the magnitude of the Elder Wendigo to be residing in the Emerald Forest."

Naruto glares at her, blue flashing crimson. "Then why didn't you get off your ass and come kill it?"

"We had faith your resourcefulness and determination would be able to overcome this unexpected challenge."

Ozpin answers for her with a non-answer. The huntress instructor looks to her boss with an almost invisible frown, closing her eyes and stepping back.

"In the field, anything can happen," the headmaster continues. "Unforeseen circumstances are a huntsman's worst enemy, but alas, it is one he must face, nevertheless. You will not always be able to rely on some higher power intervening on your behalf. Still, you all preformed-"

Naruto closes his eye, allowing Ozpin's voice to pass through one ear and out the other.

His speech is a cardboard construct of hollow praises and stock phrases. Lip service for the sake of those around him. It makes him feel dirty. Even more so than the blood and dirt and grime soaking his clothes. The headmaster's eulogy does little more than fill him with a deep sense of regret, enough to make him want to summon his tails and mask, if only to throw those words right back in his face.

' _You of all people don't get to say that… bastard.'_

"Now, before I allow you all to leave for some well-deserved rest, there is one more matter I wish to address." Ozpin says with a small smile. "One of much more interest to you all, I'm sure."

"The matter of teams."

Naruto cracks open his eye, putting aside his anger for the moment. Ruby perks up, even Weiss unable to hide the twinkle of interest in her eyes. Blake and Yang look to each other and move closer to stand in line with the rest of them.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xaio Long," Ozpin says, first addressing the four who fought together with him against the Wendigo. "You retrieved the white knight pieces. As such, you will serve together as Team RWBY."

' _So that's what it was,'_ Naruto thinks as the newly christened Team RWBY shares a round of smiles.

"Jaune Arc. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren," the headmaster turns to the other half of their group. "You retrieved the white rook pieces. As such, you will serve together as Team JNPR."

"Juniper?" Naruto leans over to ask Ruby.

"I think that's a kind of berry?"

"Juniper berries are blue," Weiss confirms.

"And now, for our problem child."

With that, Ozpin turns to Naruto with a somewhat disappointed expression. The whiskered boy meets the headmaster's gaze in defiance, as if he weren't covered in blood and unable to even stand on his own two feet.

"So, you did see, huh?"

"See?" Ruby asks, the students somewhat confused by the sudden shift in the mood. "See what?"

"There was a… condition that Ozpin gave me for attending his school," Naruto explains, glancing towards her and then back to Ozpin. "I had to break it to finish off the Wendigo."

Technically not a lie, but not entirely the truth either. There is a moment as those present digest his words, probably all coming to the conclusion that is why he didn't use the _Rasenshuriken_ when the Elder Wendigo first appeared before them. And while wrong, it still doesn't change the fact that he broke the rules of the contract he had with the headmaster.

Naruto stares at Ozpin, waiting for his reaction. The man stares back at him. A single still-black eyebrow rises. "I see… well, I suppose I shall have to make an adjustment to your score, but that isn't quite that I was referring to."

"… score? What?"

"We were being graded?" Ruby asks, sounding just as confused as him.

"We were," Weiss answers. She gives her partner the stink eye. "… You stopped listening after Professor Ozpin explained how partners were going to be decided, didn't you?"

"Hehe…"

"Oi, what do you mean _adjustment_ ," Naruto shouts, directing a one-eyed glare at the headmaster. "You said I wasn't allowed to use… 'that', right? So since, I did…!"

Ozpin gives him an amused look.

"You _are_ aware this is a huntsman academy, correct?" the headmaster asks. "Did you really think I would punish you for risking your own standing to ensure the safety of those around you?"

Ruby nudges him with a smile. Weiss lets out a sigh. Naruto stares at the man, the anger slowly draining away to a sense of _okay, reeeeally should've saw that one coming._

"But… that…"

All of his objections fall short of his lips. As much as he doesn't trust the man, as much as he wants to believe there is some sort of angle or double meaning to the headmaster's words, even he cannot deny the simple truth to them.

Grasping for straws, Naruto recalls the whole reason he had even brought up his tails to begin with. "But you said… problem child…"

"No, I was referring to another matter," Ozpin gives him a knowing look, the beginnings of a smile creeping onto his lips. "You retrieved a gold pawn piece. Yet, none of the other teams returned with a pawn, neither the second gold pawn nor either of the white pawns. How strange. I must have miscounted when I set out the relics."

"Huh? I didn't see any pawns." Ruby says. Weiss gives Naruto an accusatory glare.

His eye twitches.

"Regardless, you were the very first to reach the relics." Ozpin continues, something approaching pride in his smile. "In fact, had you not run into Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos on the way back, I believe you would have set a new record for the fastest student to complete their initiation in the history of Beacon Academy."

"Yeah, er," Jaune gives him a sheepish look, rubbing his neck. " _Normally_ I'd say sorry about that, but all things considered, I think I'm going to go with 'thank dear god you didn't'. I have no idea we would have ever beat that Wendigo-thing without you."

"Indeed," the headmaster says with a glance at Jaune and Pyrrha. "I think no one here would disagree with me when I say you preformed above and beyond what was expected, even giving your arm to protect your friends."

"I'd say 'friends' is a bit of a strong word-gurk!"

A fist falls on the top of his head. Still half-leaning on her partner, Yang looks to Ozpin. "Speaking of arms, you can fix this idiot's arm, right?"

"Of course," Ozpin assures her. "But, before his arm, there is the matter of his partner."

"Oh yeah." Naruto muses. "Actually, forgot about that with the whole 'giant-ass monster grimm coming out of nowhere and trying to kill us' thing… Well, either way, you can suck it. Made it all the way, there and back again without getting a partner!"

A pause. Naruto looks to his left hand, frowns and looks back to Ozpin.

"You can't see cause my hand's kind of screwed up right now but know that I am flipping you off. Mentally."

Ozpin takes a sip from his mug. Behind him, Goodwitch's lips curl into a scowl.

"Indeed, you did," the headmaster agrees, sounding not at all surprised or offended by the whiskered boy's words. He does not appear to be annoyed or irate or even the slightest bit troubled by Naruto's declaration.

If anything, the light in his eyes resembles that of a parent about to inflict swift and merciless judgement on a misbehaving child.

"I believe my exact words were, 'the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years''. And yes, I did say that precedence would be given to the first person you met without a partner."

And with that, Ozpin delivers the finishing blow.

"However, I did not say that person had to be a student, nor did I say you had to meet them in the forest."

Silence washes over the cliffside as the gathered students take a moment to puzzle out the meaning behind Ozpin's words.

Blake is the first, muffling a chuckle. Ren gives the younger boy a sympathetic glance.

Pyrrha puts a hand over her mouth. Weiss stares in shock.

Yang grins. Nora slaps a hand over her cheeks to catch a giggle.

Pure, unadulterated horror blooms over Naruto's face.

"No…"

Still confused, Jaune looks around. "So… who-?"

"Wait, doesn't that mean his partner's going to be Professor Goodwitch?"

Ruby puts a voice to all of their thoughts.

"AHHHH, NOOOOOOO!"

"Silence boy. This is as unpleasant for me as it is for you."

Naruto dives for the cliffs, throwing himself from Ruby and Weiss's shoulders. An invisible force catches him before he can go over the ledge, lifting him into the air. No matter how hard he flails, he is unable to free himself as he is delivered into the witch's clutches, the huntress instructor lifting him by the back of his shirt.

The difference in their heights allows her to hold him nearly a full foot off the ground. Glynda Goodwitch looks to her new 'partner', her expression as she stares at the screaming, flailing child saying all there needs to be said about her feelings on the matter.

"NOOOO! Leme go, leme go! I wanna go back to the forest! Someone help! She's going to take my other arm! I'm going to get eaten! NOOO! Not like this! NOT LIKE THIS! This isn't fair! Why do I have to get stuck with the old hag?! AHHHH-!"

* * *

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon

Chapter 17: White(I)

* * *

...

"-the tendons in both your ankles are almost entirely torn, there are hairline fractures all throughout your legs and _arm,_ and speaking of your arm-!"

"Probably nerve damage. Yup. I'd say I still have a bit of internal bleeding too along with the usual blunt, force trauma to my organs and skeleton. Actually, I don't know about that last one. Might have healed by now. Mmm, I hope my stomach isn't shot. Kind of hard to eat ramen when your G.I. tract looks like someone took a blowtorch to it. I don't know. Didn't go too overboard with the aura this time around, so my internal organs shouldn't be _too_ cooked."

The nurse glares at him. Naruto returns a flat stare.

"And I'm probably a bit sleep deprived," he deadpans. "So, you can throw that on the list if you really want."

"I've seen _corpses_ in better shape than you! How are you still conscious?!"

"Healing factor. Besides, this is hardly the worst shape I've ever been in. The first time me and the witch met, she put a light post through my chest."

The nurse turns to her colleague with an expression of horror and disbelief. To his surprise, the shadow of something resembling guilt flickers across the huntress instructor's face.

Still covered in blood and grime, Naruto sits cross-legged atop a cot in Beacon Academy's infirmary.

"Well, amazingly, you _are_ in stable condition… somehow." The nurse sighs. She looks his chart over as if it is an affront to everything she knows to be true about modern medicine. " _Something_ is putting your body faster than it can fall apart. Aura can boost the body's natural repair process, but not to this extent… not to mention yours appears to be completely inactive."

Goodwitch perks a brow at that. The nurse frowns and looks to the huntress.

"Continue to monitor him. Let me know immediately if there are any changes. I'm going to go check on the other students."

The nurse takes her leave. Naruto casts a lazy glance at his 'partner'. "I take it you didn't tell any of the staff?"

"Some, not others." The huntress answers. "Professor Peach was not one of them. What did she mean by your aura being 'completely inactive'?"

He doesn't respond at first. The lone blue eye drifts away, something else, something not in the room catching its attention.

"… Hey," Naruto says, an unearthly shriek echoing in the back of his mind. "Level with me for a second. I don't like you and I know you sure as hell don't like me. But I still don't think you're the type of person who'd send a bunch of people off to their deaths for no reason."

When he looks to her, his gaze is like ice cold ash.

"Did you guys know the Elder Wendigo was in the forest?"

She meets his gaze unflinchingly, as if offended by the very thought. "We had been monitoring grimm activity in the Emerald Forest for the past few weeks in preparation for the first-years' initiation. There was nothing to indicate a creature of that magnitude was residing in the forest. Its presence was entirely unexpected and unaccounted for."

"… I see."

With that, Naruto falls silent, sinking into thought. Goodwitch makes her way around to the chair next to his bed. She takes a card out of her pocket, places it on the table next to her and takes a seat, her legs crossed, her arms folded and her gaze cautious and measuring.

"You've encountered them before?" she asks. "The grimm with black masks."

"I have."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What are your thoughts on the creature that attacked you in the forest?" she asks. "This is the first time we've had such an incident occur during initiation… were you not present, Professor Ozpin and I would have stepped in ourselves to ensure the safety of the students."

"Tch-," Naruto scowls. "Yeah, leaving a bunch of noobies in a forest with an S-rank criminal and a freak-of-nature grimm and hoping they both kill each other. No way that could've gone wrong."

It isn't worth getting worked up about.

It's not worth getting angry over.

Something like this is only to be expected. The kind of thing he should have expected when working with someone known to the world over as 'the Great and Terrible'. There's no reason for him to get upset about it.

Even so-

 _-You are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox-!_

It's wrong.

Playing with the lives of others, treating them like tools to be used and discarded. Taking advantage of their hopes and dreams all for the sake of one's own ambitions. And in his mind, they overlap.

Another white-haired teacher offering him a deal and a second chance. Another retrieval, a request to deliver something back to said teacher. The similarities are superficial, but they are there, and they are enough to spoil any sense of joy or accomplishment he may have felt towards his acceptance into Beacon.

"Professor Ozpin would not have invited you to attend this school, otherwise," the huntress says in a matter of fact tone. "He believes you are more than the criminal the world sees you to be. That is why he has given you this chance."

"And you?"

She turns to look at him, her eyes narrowed, her lips pressed into the slightest of frowns. "… I trust in his judgement."

"Is that so?" Naruto scoffs. "Good to know. Great moral compass you got there, though you might want to get it checked 'cause it seems to only really point in the direction of 'whatever the hell Ozpin tells you to do'."

"I would rather not be lectured on ethics by the _child_ with one of the Bingo Book's highest body counts."

"And I'd rather not have to work with a teacher who'd let her students _die_ just because her boss _said so_."

"They did _not_ die," Goodwitch snaps at him. "If you had let them die, it would have only proven that you don't deserve to be at this school."

" _I_ _ **don't**_ **.** "

He turns to face her directly, crimson bleeding into the blue of his eye. "You think I don't get it? Why the hell else do you think I didn't want a partner? It's not because I didn't want some freshman holding me back. It's not because it'd be a drag hiding my identity from someone like that! And it's damn sure not because I like being alone!"

It is like a bursting floodgate. The power he had put so much effort into suppressing during the initiation surges forth to heal his broken body and brings with it a gushing tide of raw emotion.

"It's because I know _when_ word gets out about _what_ I am, people like _you_ are going to treat them like trash for getting swept up in a scheme they never even knew they were a part of!"

His teeth sharpen. His hair becomes more wild and unkept. The markings over his cheeks thicken and spread, his muscles becoming more defined, his fingernails becoming like claws, a shroud of crimson steam gathering over his skin.

"It's because _I know_ you fucks in your ivory clocktower couldn't give a damn about the lives of any poor sap who just happened to be caught at the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up thrown headfirst into a situation they never should **have had to deal with**!"

He senses it before she even moves.

Fear. Shock. The huntress dives off her chair, rolls to her feet and throws out a hand, arrays of glowing purple seals appearing over the walls. Her riding crop flies into her hand.

A hand grabs her wrist before she can raise it.

Crimson glares into green, only inches away from each other. A moment passes where the only sounds in the room are that of the humming, violet seals and the hiss of steam.

… Something is different, Naruto thinks as the dark power of the _**Initial Jinchuuriki Form**_ washes over his body.

It is a strange sense of clarity that shines through the black haze of hatred. He feels the strength yet none of the madness that typically accompanies the first stages of his transformation. There is a slight itch behind his right eye. It goes almost unnoticed as the fatigue and pain and exhaustion of his battle with the Wendigo all melt away, the dark power of his inner demon kicking his healing factor into overdrive.

The boost of energy and the healing of his wounds allows him to rein in his temper. He lets go of her arm. She lowers the riding crop. His body returns to his typical appearance, aside from the missing arm and the blood and grime covering most of his right side, and the purple lights fade from the room.

"I didn't want a partner, because I didn't want to have to make the choice between following Ozpin's orders and keeping them safe," Naruto says, glaring with his eye still a brightly glowing crimson.

Goodwitch touches her wrist where he grabbed her. Her eyes narrow. "… then, I suppose you should be very pleased with this current arrangement."

The light fades. Ashen blue narrows. "… I guess I should."

With that he turns away from his 'partner' making his way over to the window.

"Where are you going?"

"Going to see a guy about a thing," Naruto grunts, fiddling with the lock, his fingers still not quite moving the way he wants them to. Still, a combination of reinforcement and aura manipulation allows him to undo the lock and he pushes open the window. "And when I say guy, I mean your shady boss who strikes me as the kind of grandpa who likes to keep secrets, and when I say thing, I actually mean a thing."

His trouble with the lock does not escape her. Goodwitch interrupts him before he can climb out the window. "… You are still injured. You shouldn't be moving around. Professor Peach asked me to keep an eye on you."

"Please, we both know her reaction would be _kill it with fire_ if she actually knew who I was."

Without another word, Naruto leaps out the window. Glynda Goodwitch watches as the boy disappears into the distance. A moment passes. She sighs. Green eyes drift from the slight singe mark on her sleeve, to the bit of blood still staining the covers of the bunk and finally to the key card still left on the table.

A wave of her hand shuts and locks the window. She takes the card, very nearly crushing it in her grasp.

"… Tch."

The door slams shut behind her.

* * *

…

Scrapes and bruises. Nothing major. The biggest hit she had taken was when her own partner's older, sister had been fast-balled at her, but out of the five of them who faced off against the greater grimm at the very end, she probably got off the easiest.

The slight ache that seems to seep into her very soul is somewhat concerning. But seeing as how she had only ever been able to perform _three_ partial-summoning a day prior to today, it is only to be expected.

As Weiss Schnee walks through the halls of Beacon Academy, she finds her thoughts inevitably drawn again to the monster that had nearly killed them and the boy who had killed it in turn.

The others are probably still reeling. A monster like that is probably something that only existed in their wildest nightmares. This is probably their first encounter with the world beyond the creature comforts of civilization. The world where there are people more terrifying than any grimm, the place from where legends hail, people's whose existence could be likened to fairy tales, people like the Last King of Vale, or the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf. A place where even the darkest of imaginations cannot hope to imagine its depths.

Her own first encounter with that world remains fresh in her mind, even now three years later. It flashes through her mind, the image of a boy in a mask whose very presence seemed to turn the air to jelly.

 _-It's still not enough._

Her expression tightens. The clicking of heels through the halls intensifies, coming to a stop only when she sees another coming down the hall towards her.

With a practiced ease, she hides her inner thoughts and feelings behind a pleasant expression and greets the person. "Ah, hello Professor Goodwitch."

"Ms. Schnee." The huntress instructor greets her with a curt nod. The thunderous expression on the older woman's face tells her all she needs to know about who she was probably with before.

On the one hand, she can't help but feel a small bit of envy towards the whiskered moron. The opportunity to work alongside a huntress of Professor Goodwitch's fame is something most people would more than willingly give an arm for. The older woman is a wealth of knowledge and experience, a resource most could only wish for when first starting out as a fledgling huntsman.

On the other hand, she also appears to very much hate him. As if his very existence is some sort of offense to her, let alone his presence at this school.

' _I can only imagine why…'_ Weiss thinks to herself, making sure to keep her thoughts from showing on her face. "Is this the way to Naruto's room?"

The huntress instructor's expression sours even further. "The _boy_ has gone to speak with Professor Opzin."

' _What? That idiot should be resting! What does he think he is doing?!'_ "I understand. Thank you."

With a slight bow, Weiss makes to move past Professor Goodwitch. She stops when the huntress instructor speaks again.

"You are going to see him," Professor Goodwitch says, less as a question and more as an observation.

"Yes, I wanted to see how he was doing."

"… I see." she produces a card from her skirt. "If you would, please give this to him for me. It is the key card for the residence where he will be staying."

"I will make sure it gets to him," Weiss assures the older woman, receiving the card with a curious glance. From what she has been told, the only thing they need to access their dorm rooms on campus is their scrolls.

' _Is he going to be living off campus…?'_

Before Weiss can put a voice to her thoughts, Professor Goodwitch matches off, as if eager to leave behind any trace thoughts of her 'partner'. And the Schnee Heiress can't help but frown.

Just what sort of history do those two have for the older huntress to have such a dislike for her new 'partner'? It may very well simply be the veteran huntress being unwilling but still-accepting of the headmaster's decision to match her up with the younger boy, but she cannot shake the feeling there is something more to the enmity between two.

Logically, it makes sense. Even she will admit that out of the nine of them who 'fought' the Elder Wendigo, his strength and skill stand head and shoulders above the rest, especially with Pyrrha having been unable to fight due to her aura. Or rather her lack thereof. If he was paired with some other student whose abilities were far inferior to his own, his own growth would probably end up stagnated in order to help raise up the capabilities of his partner. And rather than squander such potential, it only makes sense to foster its growth.

It was probably no coincidence that Professor Goodwitch was the one to greet them at the cliffs, Weiss thinks to herself as she approaches the elevator to the headmaster's office.

She presses the button. Ding. The elevator arrives. The doors open. And-

"Eep-!"

It is two factors in tandem that caused the unsophisticated sound to slip from her lips.

The first was her expectation that prior to his audience with the headmaster, the whiskered moron would have at least had the decency to wash himself and find a change of clothes. Nope. He stands before her looking every bit the living corpse he was when they first came out of the forest, aside from his skin being just a slight bit less pale.

Yet, it is probably the second that catches her off guard the most. There is a look in his eye, a sort of angry and cold bitterness that lends to him a haunting air of maturity.

It is a familiar look. One she has seen plenty of times before, despite her older sister's best efforts to hide it from her. And like each time before, the moment she is noticed, that look disappears behind another, this one indifferent and uncaring.

"… Did you just 'eep'?"

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Whatever you say, squeaky."

With that, he shoves his hand into his pocket and steps around her. Weiss follows after him.

"Wait!"

"What do you want?"

"I wanted- ahem." Weiss clears her throat. She takes out the key card. "Professor Goodwitch wanted me to give this to you."

He looks at the card, his eye narrowing, and the corner of his lips wrinkling into a slight scowl. "I don't want it."

"I'm not _asking_ if you want it, I am _telling_ you to take it."

"And I'm _telling_ you if I do, it's going straight out the window."

Naruto turns to walk away. Weiss huffs. She looks at the card, thinks for a moment and slips it away again, if not to give it to him later then to return it to its previous owner.

When she looks up, she finds herself alone an in empty hallway.

"Wha-?" Weiss glances around, as though she might find him hiding behind a curtain or something somewhere else. She honestly would not put it past him to do something like that just for the sake of being an annoyance. Unfortunately, no matter where she looks, there is no sign of the whiskered idiot.

"How-? When did he-?! Grrr-! NARUUTOOO-!"

"Sheesh Wice, I'm right here, no need to yell."

The voice comes from the side. From an open window. Weiss rushes over to the window, poking her head out to find Naruto standing on the side of the wall as if it were flat ground, unconcerned by the three story drop behind him.

"Okay, first it is W-E-ISS, you blithering idiot! And second, what do you think you're doing?! Get back up here, this instant!"

"Bleh-"

Naruto pulls down his eyelid and sticks out his tongue. Weiss bristles. She climbs out of the window after him, a trial of glyphs blooming over the wall. Pushing down her skirt, she stomps towards the younger boy as angrily as she can whilst wearing heels on a vertical surface.

"You are injured! An hour ago, you couldn't even walk on your own two feet! So, instead of trying your hardest to infuriate everyone in earshot, would it kill you to just-!"

There is a sharp sound, like cracking glass. It is like a frozen needle being pushed into the back of her eyes. The glyphs beneath her feet flicker and cut out like lights. Her eyes widen as her feet slip and she falls.

An arm catches her, wrapping around her waist.

"Please don't let this whole 'falling' thing become a habit. You may have the shape and weight of cardboard, but it's still a pain to have to keep catching you each time."

"I hate you. I hate you so much."

"Most people do."

She hangs onto his arm as they make their way down the building. Her head throbs. It is a strange combination of emotions in her chest, three parts shame in having had him catch her twice in one day, two parts anger at the idiot for having done this to her because it is _obviously_ his fault for not staying put and insisting on wandering about as if he isn't missing an arm and covered in his own blood, one part indignation at his unforgivable comment about her figure and the tiniest, most minute dash of gratefulness that he did not simply allow her to face plant into the ground.

He sets her down on the grass. "You okay?"

"It's nothing…" she assures him, holding her head. "Really, it's nothing. I just… pushed my semblance a little bit too hard today, that's all."

Naruto gives her a dry stare. "Considering how your semblance is supposed to be a physical projection of your soul, pushing it 'a bit too hard' really isn't what I'd call 'nothing'."

"Considering how _you_ are missing _your arm, you_ shouldn't be leisurely strolling about like you couldn't be bothered to care!" Weiss snaps back at him. "It is a serious injury! How can you act so cavalier about it?! You should be resting."

"I feel the need to point out I'm not the one who almost broke their neck climbing out a window."

"Why are you so-!"

It's not that she cares. Really. Between his impossibly infuriating personality and the way he seems almost to make an effort to look like he just climbed out of a gutter, the whiskered moron is exactly the type of person the Schnee heiress would rather avoid.

Alas, it does not change the fact that the majority of the injuries he sustained were for their sake. If he had been alone, he probably would have been able to make it back to the cliffs without any problem. In the end, the whole of his efforts against the Elder Wendigo were solely to give them a chance to escape. That was why they hadn't hesitated in the slightest to follow him back through the forest, despite his wishes for them to return to the cliffs. And _that_ is the sole reason for this niggling sense of _obligation_ that keeps her from casting him from her thoughts and leaving him to do whatever moronic fancy that happens to pass his mind.

The sooner she can get him into a hospital bed, the sooner she can stop worrying, and the sooner she can scrub her hands of his particular brand of idiocy.

Weiss takes a breath. She takes a moment to find her peace. Her heart becomes still. Peerless like the reflection of a mirror. No longer will she allow herself to feel even the slightest bit of anger at his provocations.

"Okay, what is it going to take to get you into bed?"

"Wording."

Crack.

"You know what I mean," Weiss hisses, for a moment wondering just what the chances are of her being able to actually physically restrain the younger boy, her hands twitching as though to wrap around something.

Like his neck.

' _I can get him to stop talking AND drag him to Professor Peach at the same time! It'll be perfect! There's no downside! All I need to do is get a bit closer and…'_

"You're just going to keep following me around and nagging me, aren't you?" Naruto grumbles, looking back at her. Weiss hurriedly crosses her arms. Rather than her trying to hide her intention to strangle him, he apparently interprets her posture as a confirmation of his suspicions and lets out a sigh.

"Alright… how about this. You go see Professor…. Apple-"

"Professor _Peach_."

"-Professor Banana about your semblance and I'll, I don't know, chill in the lounge after I wash this blood off in the lake."

"What- Why in the world would you go to the _lake_ to bathe yourself?"

"Well, where else am I supposed to do it?"

"Your room? Here, I even have the key card for you."

"Still don't want it. Still don't know where that is, either."

"Ugh! Would you quit being so difficult and just take the stupid card?!"

"… Fine…"

He reaches for the card. His fingers fumble, almost dropping it. It takes a moment for him to get his hand around the card, even then his grip appearing to be less him holding the card so much as it just sticking to his palm.

He pulls back. And she grabs his wrist.

"What is wrong with your hand?" Weiss asks, holding the offending limb between them.

"There's this giant, annoying fly grabbing onto it," Naruto deadpans. "You do realize I have a healing factor, right? The arm is going to take a bit to come back, but this is hardly the worst shape I've ever been in. Hell, it's probably going to be back before whatever is wrong with your semblance is fixed."

He isn't wrong. Someone with regenerative capabilities obviously would care less if they are maimed or otherwise injured. Still, there is something about the whiskered boy's utter disregard for his own well-bearing that just grates at her on a personal level. For another few seconds, she continues to glare before letting go of his wrist.

"So, you done or is there anything else you want to complain about before I go?" he drawls, slipping the card into his pocket.

"Depends," Weiss crosses her arms. "Are you still planning on skinny-dipping in a lake while you are effectively bi-peligic?"

"I don't know what that means."

"It means someone without the use of either of their arms."

"Well, what else am I going to do?" he asks in an irritable grumble. "I have the key, whoopee-do. I still don't know where the place is. Unless you want me to go to the team-announcement ceremony like this, I'm kind of out of options here. And it's getting itchy."

A sigh. "I can let you in, just use the shower in my room."

If it's just this once, then it's fine. It's better than having him bathe in the lake and potentially having his injuries becoming infected. Besides, it's not like she didn't grow up with a younger brother who would use her bathroom when he had her own just to spite her.

His response to her generous suggestion is as short as it is swift. "I refuse."

"What? Why?"

There is a moment as he pauses, his hand going to his stomach in an unconscious gesture. "… I don't know. What if one of you guys walks in on me while I'm showering or something or… something…"

"Please, no one is that stupid."

* * *

 **AN: So, I planned to have this whole arc done before RWBY season 6 came out. Goes to show my long-term planning skills. There's one more chapter, and chances are I'm not going to get it done by the end of this week because college is being a bitch. Whenever I do finish it, I'll post a reflection in my forum and start working on the next 'arc'. This is really the introduction arc for the RWBY-verse which is why it is so ungodly long. The next one will be much shorter.**

 **For this chapter:**

 **Thoughts on the part where Naruto rags on Goodwitch for not doing anything? Appropriate? Too harsh? Not harsh enough?**

 **Did you see my choice for Naruto's 'partner' coming?**


	18. Chapter 18: White(Part II)

Of Heroes and Monsters

Welcome to Beacon

Chapter 18: White(II)

* * *

The water is warm, but not too warm. Warm enough to wash off the dried blood and dirt and general grime covering his body. Not warm enough to be comfortable or too relaxing. The water from the showerhead washes over him, a slight bit of water manipulation making up for his inability to use either of his hands on account of the nerve damage in one and the other still being attached to his arm somewhere in the Emerald Forest.

Ozpin didn't know anything either.

One can't survive in the underground without learning how to tell if someone is lying. The simple fact of the matter is that the safeguards and regulations that protect hunters and shinobi don't exist for mercenaries. The only thing protecting a sellsword like him from a lying client is the implied threat of their head being next on the chopping block if they are betrayed or otherwise misled.

And as far as he can tell, his current 'client' has done neither of those things. The headmaster appears to be every bit as baffled as he was by the Elder Wendigo's appearance. On the other hand, the huntsman's decision to leave him and a group of baby-hunters to fight it all on their own is a different matter entirely, one which he made sure to express his thoughts about via the application of a fist to the face.

There is a part of him that can't help but wonder if Ozpin was expecting that sort of a reaction from him.

The man had evenremoved his glasses beforehand, after all.

Naruto holds up his hand. The falling droplets slow and shift, rejecting the pull of gravity as they are pulled into a vortex of water, swirling into a collapsing cone above his palm. It is a relatively simple trick, two parts shape transformation with one part elemental manipulation, but still one he never would have been able to do in his younger years.

When his world was the village and everything beyond the its walls were wonder and imagination.

When a black-masked grimm was little more than a ghost that would haunt his nightmares whenever the nights were dark and the moon fell to pieces.

When the thought of him attending a huntsmen academy in Vale was just as ridiculous as the idea of him even surviving long enough to do so.

Funny how things tend to work out.

He makes a fist. The vortex accelerates, coalesces into a serpent of water, snaking up around his arm, over his shoulder, about his chest and onto the other shoulder, splashing into mist once more when it reaches the cloud of blackened ash fluttering about the stump that used to be his right arm.

At the rate it's going, the arm will probably be back in a day or so. A week at the latest, as long as his healing factor doesn't get taxed having to fix something else. With a sigh, Naruto grabs the disfigured limb and presses his forehead against the shower glass.

"Why did I do that…"

Only the sound of running water answers him. He allows himself a brief moment of contemplation, wondering if maybe, just maybe, he should have bit the bullet and accepted one of the other students as his partner instead of getting saddled with Goodwitch.

It doesn't take long for him to find the answer to be a resounding 'no'.

Sort of Ozpin himself, she is probably the one in this school most capable of dealing with the fallout should he decide to go rogue. From a tactical standpoint, from a political standpoint, from a logical standpoint, for him, Goodwitch really is the most ideal partner.

So why is it that any thoughts of his 'partner' only bring with them a hollow feeling of longing and regret?

He leans against the shower glass, pondering the emptiness in his chest. The water drums against his back. Eventually he pulls his forehead from the glass with another sigh and turns his attention to other, more physical matters.

Namely the spiral of ink scorched over his stomach.

A finger presses against the blacked skin, an unnatural heat emanating from the ink. It probably won't go away until his arm is finished healing, so he'll have to be careful. Arguably, the presence of the ancient grimm in his body is a darker secret than even his identity as the Demon Fox.

Ozpin knows. He has to know. There's no other reason the man would have invited him to come to this school. The real question is whether or not he has decided to share that little fact with Goodwitch.

Probably not.

If there's anything he's learned about old men with secrets, it's that those secrets tend to go one of two ways.

Either to the grave… or right in the middle of a situation they can only make worse.

"So, I'm going to have to tell her myself, eh?" Naruto raises a finger, a tiny flame flickering to life over his fingertip. An equally tiny chain sprouts from the flame, wrapping around the shower knob and turning it off. "That's going to be a fun conversation."

The water stops. The chain shatters. Naruto steps out of the shower to grab his towel and-

-freezes when he locks eyes with the person standing in the doorway.

"…"

"…"

Her eyes are wide like saucers, her pupils tiny, silver pinpricks. She refuses to meet his gaze, silent, her mouth half-open as she stares, unblinkingly. The silver-gaze drinks in his shoulders and chest, clinging to his upper body for all of three seconds before it drops, going lower, lower and lower until her blush spreads to turn her face the same shade as her hood.

"…"

"…"

"… w-wolfie?"

A slip. Two slips. The first, calling her by the same name only one 'other' person has ever used. The second, his coming out a fair few pitches higher than he'd have liked. Both caused by there being something else to the normally, all too talkative girl's gaze, something other than the surprise and mortification and embarrassment currently turning her the same shade as a tomato.

His voice seems to jolt her out of it. Her eyes go up. Down. Up. Down. Her voice spills out of her lips several pitches higher than usual as she tries and fails miserably to keep her gaze above his waist. "Penis- I mean, Naruto! Penis you doing here-I mean- I mean- I mean-I mean-I mean-!"

Naruto shuts the door.

He grabs the towel and starts to dry himself, his thoughts bouncing somewhere between ' _totally called that'_ and ' _how did I not notice her'_ before finally coming to a stop at the realization that if she really was staring at _that_ , then there is a good zero percent change she didn't see his seal.

Well crap.

Regardless of what she may or may not have seen, people tend to agree with the reality they are most comfortable with. Considering the only evidence she has to go on is the mark on his stomach, he doubts she will be able to connect the boy who lost an arm protecting her with the masked criminal she fought that night in Vale.

It's a clan marking. A seal that anyone can have. A trick of the light. A bit of unwashed blood. Excuses and counterarguments aplenty go through his mind.

And he discards them all with a sigh.

His own words to Blake echo back to him. Securing his towel to his waist, Naruto steps out of the bathroom to find red curled into a ball on top of one of the beds. He opens his mouth to call out to her. Pause. Frowns at his half-nakedness.

' _I should probably get dressed first…'_

With only the partial use of one arm, it takes a moment to change into the clothes Ozpin lent him. A miss-buttoned white dress shirt and the black dress pants are the only pieces he picks from the standard Beacon Academy uniform, the noose, vest and blazer all going to the way side. He goes to sit next to the crimson cocoon, waiting patiently for the painfully awkward, not-so-social butterfly to emerge.

The seconds tick by. Naruto clears his throat, throwing a glance at the red ball. "So… you enjoy the view?"

The ball shudders and, for a second, he swears the girl manage to somehow blush _through_ her hood.

"Yeah, honestly I one-hundred-percent saw this sort of thing coming. Tried to warn sneeze, but she called me an idiot. She's the one who let me in, by the way."

No response. He perks a brow.

"How long were you standing there, anyway?"

The ball shudders again. Naruto stares with a blank expression and a small blush before his lips pull into a slight smirk.

"I mean, I don't get what you're so embarrassed about. I saw your boobs last night, so I guess we can just call it even. T-though I suppose you did get the 'full package', not just the boys, but I only got the girls a-and…"

Naruto stops, squeezes his eye shut and presses a hand over his face as the heat in his cheeks becomes too much for him to keep going. What appears to be _steam_ starts to waft from inside the wrapped-up ball of red.

This is awkward. This is so, very, painfully awkward, but he cannot allow himself to run away.

He wants to. He wants to, oh so very badly. It would be all too easy just jump out that window right now and pretend the last couple minutes never happened. Ruby probably would play along, if only to avoid the potential death by sheer embarrassment. Alas, he has already made up his resolve. This is the path he has chosen. He must see it to its end, no matter where that end may lead. All there is left to do is endure and push on ahead.

Naruto coughs. He takes a breath. And another. "Hey, you like weapons, right?"

A lonely, silver eye peeks out from under the red hood. Hesitant. Weary but hopeful that his attempts at embarrassing her out of her shell are over with.

He should let it end there. The rational part of him tells to get to the serious stuff now. But the joke is there, and in spite of the heat scorching his cheeks, he cannot resist. With a grin and a face every bit as red as her hood, Naruto looks her in the eye and says-

"So, what'd you think of my _kwnai_?"

-and proceeds to curses whatever god, goddess or deity is responsible for cursing the half population of humanity with voice cracks.

The silver eye widens. Silence. For a moment, neither of the two teenagers says nothing. And then-

"Pft… hehehe…h-hahahaha- AHAHAHAHA-!"

Laughter fills the room. Ruby falls backwards onto the bed, clutching her stomach and kicking her feet.

"K-kwnai! _Kwnai!_ HAHAHAHAHA-!"

Naruto holds his face in his hand, the heat in his cheeks actually starting to melt his brain, steam beginning to pour from his ears in turn as his healing factor attempts to repair said brain damage.

"-HAHAHAHAHAHA-!" Thud. Ruby rolls off the bed and hits the floor face first. For a moment, there is silence. Then= "-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-!"

This was a mistake. Everything was a mistake. He never should have come to this school, Vale, he never should have left the Island of the Elementals. He regrets everything, everything and everything, the only solace he can find in this situation being that it was Ruby and not her sister that walked in on him and witnessed this blunder.

The laughter dies down. Ruby climbs back onto the bed, wiping a tear from her eye. "Hehehe… _kwnai_ … hehe…"

"You done, red?"

"You're more red than me!"

"You're red…"

Naruto rubs his face and pulls back his hand, giving her a dry glare. Ruby smiles back at him.

"Well, I'd have to s-I-I mean, why'd Weiss let you in our room?! Was it just to use the shower? Why didn't you just use the shower in your room?"

"I don't know where my room is. I was planning on just taking a bath in the lake but…"

"Oooh~," Ruby makes a noise of realization and nods, apparently agreeing with her partner's action.

"What?"

"What do you mean, 'what'? Of course, you shouldn't be taking a bath in a _lake_! What if you got an infection or something?!"

"Healing factor. But hey, what about you guys? Is everyone okay?"

"Yang's a bit beat up but she's always been tough, so she should be fine. Weiss too, but I saw her going back to the nurse. And Blake, I think she's a bit bummed she lost her weapon but last I saw she was just reading a book. Yeah, since I saw everyone I figured there wouldn't be anyone in our room! So, when I came in and the shower was on…"

"Mmm. What about you?"

"The nurse lady said I have a bit of a… contusion-?"

"-concussion?"

"-yeah that! But otherwise, I'm okay."

"Mm," Naruto lets out a blank grunt and a nod, an almost invisible sigh of relief escaping his lips. With his body still in the process of healing his right arm, the seal over his right eye has been set entirely to suppression. The lone blue eye on the left goes to the door, the window, the blank walls of the room, for some reason unable to look at the girl next to him.

He should tell her. He has to tell her. Eventually, she will learn the truth. Because even if 'eventually' doesn't come today, or tomorrow, or even a week, a month, a year from now, it will come. And when it does, that happy illusion will be shattered to reveal the ugly reality underneath.

And it will hurt all the more for the time she spent believing in it.

 _-You are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox-!_

"Hey so, it looks like Uncle Qrow's weapon was working pretty well for you before… you know," Ruby asks with a guilty glance at the empty sleeve to his right, her voice drawing him from his thoughts. "But yeah, you were kicking tons of butt with Harbinger's sword form! And that pincer attack we did was awesome! We should totally think of a name for it!"

"Why can't we just call it 'pincer attack'?"

"No way, that's sooo~ boring! And besides, if we're fighting someone and one of us just shouted 'pincer attack', they'd instantly know what we were doing! It needs a cool codename!"

"Alright, what do you want to call it?"

"Naruby!"

"Please never say that word again."

"Uuu~…"

A small chuckle escapes him at the disappointed expression on her face. "But yeah, the two weapons I'm most comfortable with are greatswords and scythes, so… 'Harbinger' was a good fit for me. It was actually a pretty big help… you know. Until the giant dog-monkey-deer-rabbit-plant-mulch monster showed up."

"Ehehe, mulch monster…" Ruby lets out a small laugh of her own. "That's kind of a weird, combination, isn't it? Why'd you learn to use a greatsword _and_ a scythe?"

"Because they're flashy."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean… how do I put it…? As a kid, you see someone swinging around a scythe and you're just like 'whoa, that's so cool and badass, I want to use a scythe too!' and… well, that's pretty much why I started to use a scythe."

Ruby nods excitably, leaning towards him. "Right, right?! I mean, Yang's always going 'just a scythe is too slow and bulky' and 'you're going to get your butt kicked if you ever meet anyone who actually knows their way around a fight', but you don't really _need_ to learn something like hand-to-hand as back up, right?"

He somehow manages to resist the urge to say 'your performance that night in Vale after I disarmed you should speak for itself'. "It doesn't really have to be taijutsu- er, hand-to-hand, but generally it's good to have a backup. Like a sword or something."

"… You really think?"

Naruto shrugs.

"I'll think about it." Ruby hops to her feet and goes over to her things, taking out a shower. "So, I was planning on taking a shower so-"

"Want me to leave?"

"Oh no it's fine, just uh… please don't look?"

"I… don't really want to?"

"Oh." She blushes and looks away. "Right. Uh… it's just since I… I mean, with your arm, I was wondering… erm… it's just… I… never mind!"

With a squeak and a flurry of rose petals, the bathroom door slams shut. Naruto stares at the door with a confused look, not entirely sure what the excitable girl was trying to get at. He thinks about it for a moment, decides he doesn't really care and lets out a sigh.

Well, it's now or never.

A relationship built on lies will only end in suffering. One way or another, if he keeps this charade up, someone is going to get hurt. The incident with the Wendigo is proof enough. If they knew the truth of who he is, there's no way they would have gone back for him. And because they did, they almost got themselves killed.

It is obvious enough Ruby will be the leader of RWBY. So, if she knows the truth at the very least she will be able to direct her team accordingly. Besides, even if he is to keep his identity a secret, Ozpin did say he would be leaving it to him to decide how to deal with the girl he fought that night in Vale.

The sound of running water comes from the bathroom. Naruto gets to his feet. Another sigh. He rubs the back of his neck, swallows the lump in his throat and makes his way over, pressing his back against the door.

A moment passes. And another. Naruto opens his mouth and closes it without a word. He squeezes his eye shut, bites down on his unease and swallows again.

Thud. The back of his head knocks against the door. And sure enough-

"N-Naruto?!"

"Ruby. There's… something I need to tell you."

"… What is it? Is something wrong?"

She seems to immediately realize it is something serious. Probably because he opted to use her actual name instead of some lazy, short hand. Naruto lets out another sigh.

 _-You are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox-!_

"I am the Demon Fox. The one you fought that night in Vale."

He barrels on ahead, not giving her a chance to respond. "After I got away from Goodwitch, I ran into Ozpin and he offered me a chance to come to his school on the condition that I keep my identity a secret."

There is no response at first. Only a silence and the rapid pitter patter of the shower water. Is it cruel to spring something like this on her so suddenly? Maybe. Probably. But in the end, it is for the best. Even if she hates him for it, it is better for her to find out now instead of in a situation where it could put her in danger. It is better for her to hear it from him instead of someone else.

 _-You are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox-!_

Even now, six years later, he can recall that day in perfect clarity. From morning to night. From when his biggest worry was not being able to pass the final exam to when his world burned down around him. The violent end to the peaceful beginnings that set him on the bloody path to becoming who he is today.

Even now, its memory still haunts him.

He can only hope, for her, that this becomes nothing more than an unpleasant memory. If she even remembers it, six years from now.

"Then… why are you telling me?"

The voice that dispels the silence is confused. Scared. Hurt and maybe even a bit angry. Nothing he shouldn't have expected and nothing he shouldn't have prepared for.

"Because you were going to find out eventually," Naruto says simply. "After everything that happened in Vale, it'd only be a matter of time. When I brought it up, I was told Ozpin said he'd leave it up to me to decide what to do. So, I figured it'd be better for you to hear it from me."

"… What about Yang? Does she-?"

"She trashed the bar I usually go to for work, but most people don't know I go there, so no. The only people who know are Ozpin, some of the teachers and you."

"Oh. That's…"

A pause. For another moment, there is nothing but the sound of running water between them. Then-

"Thank you."

Naruto perks a brow, glancing behind him at the door. "For what?"

"For telling me… and… not murdering my sister…"

"You're… welcome?"

Again, the silence returns. Naruto coughs. He glances to the side and scratches the back of his head.

'… _This is awkward…'_

He had expected anger. Hatred. Rage. The sort of reception that would have made Goodwitch's attitude towards him seem warm in comparison. All of those he knows how to deal with. All of those he has dealt with for his entire life.

An entirely non-sarcastic thank you and a contemplative silence? To say he is stumped would be an understatement.

Maybe she is still reeling from the shock of learning her new 'friend' is one of the most infamous criminals of the century.

Or maybe she is scared? Afraid if she says the wrong thing, he will silence her to tie up any loose ends. Though if she was, he'd probably be able to tell. He has always been more attuned to negative emotions than normal people. Then again, there is always the possibility the sleep deprivation and fatigue are dulling his senses.

Either way, he should leave. Give her some time to sort out her thoughts without his presence to influence her. That'd probably be best.

"Ozpin told me to keep my presence at this school a secret," Naruto begins to explain. "But, in all honesty, after the crap he pulled in the forest, I really don't care much about what he wants right now. If this gets out, it'll be trouble. I'll probably have to leave the school. So…"

 _If you want me gone, that's all you have to do._

Pitter, patter, pitter, patter. The gentle drumming of the shower water again rushes to fill the silence. Naruto shoves a hand in his pocket and pushes off the bathroom door. He makes his way across the room and prepares to leave, only for the voice to come again from the bathroom.

"Naruto…? That's actually your name right? Naruto?"

"… Yeah. Naruto Uzumaki."

"Okay, um… so… you're not leaving right? You're staying at Beacon?"

"That's the plan, at least."

"Alright… can we talk? Later, I mean."

"Sure. Anytime. Just… just let me know."

Naruto exits the room, the door closing behind him with a gentle click. His departure is quiet. Almost silent. And because he leaves the room, he does not hear as Ruby calls out again with a somewhat forced cheerfulness to her voice.

"Hey, so I was thinking about going to buy school supplies later, and Yang was telling me we should just wait until the after the first round of classes so we'll actually know what we need to buy but I was thinking it couldn't hurt to be prepared so I was thinking I'd go get some today! I was just wondering if, you know, you wanted to come with me? If you're not too tired, I mean. After everything that happened in the forest, if you don't really want to that's okay, but I just wanted to ask, since, you know, if you're going to be a student here you'll probably need some stuff too."

…

…

…

"… Naruto?"

* * *

…

"-Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL(Cadinal), led by… Cardin Winchester!"

The crowd around her erupts into applause. Blake stifles a yawn as the newly christened Team CRDL walks off the stage.

It had slipped her mind. They may have already received their team assignments, but they still don't know who the leader is going to be yet. Following the convention set by CRDL, that means the 'R' of their team is probably going to be their leader. Ruby Rose. While she has some reservations about the younger girl's maturity, that innocence and optimism isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Blake Belladonna glances over at said girl, both red and white partners appearing to be vaguely unsettled by something.

If she was to hazard a guess, she would say that 'something' is the absence of a certain whiskered idiot.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR(Juniper)."

She hadn't given it much thought earlier. Tired and beaten and bruised from their battle against the Elder Wendigo, the only think she could think about after they left the forest was asleep. And now, a short nap later, it has begun to dawn upon her just how precarious her situation is.

It was never her intention to let anyone find out about her faunus heritage. That Naruto found out was something entirely beyond her expectations, even more so his reaction, which amounted to a big 'so what?'. She'd be lying if she said there wasn't some part of her that had hoped they would end up partners, if only so she won't need to worry about hiding her ears from the person she will be working with for the next four years.

"-led by… Jaune Arc!"

Even so, Yang seems to be friendly enough. The blond looks to be rather fond of Naruto, even if he isn't a faunus himself. So, she doubts the revelation of her species will throw much of a wrench in their relationship.

The problem is not her partner, nor even her partner's sister. No, her worry stems from the fourth in their team of four.

Weiss Schnee.

The daughter of a man known the world over for his corrupt business practices, the ruthless exploitation of his faunus employees being only one of the various misdeeds to his name.

Of all the people she could have ended up on a team with, it had to be a Schnee. And perhaps the only Schnee absolutely justified in her hatred of the faunus, considering what the White Fang had very nearly done to her three years ago.

There's no way she can allow the heiress to learn about her past. The events of three years ago had probably only served to further reinforce the prejudices passed down to her by her father. Which means she probably won't be very forgiving of anyone with even a history with the organization that had abducted and tried to murder her not so long ago.

A nudge on her shoulder pulls her from her thoughts. Blake looks up to see her image appear on the screen, next to the faces of her teammates, Ruby and Weiss already making their way onto the stage. Yang motions for them to follow and they both go to the stage as well.

Blake perks a brow.

From afar, she hadn't noticed it. But this close to the man, it is obvious. There is a slight swelling of the skin around the headmaster's right eye, the injury mostly healed but still there.

"Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xaio Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY, led by… Ruby Rose!"

… As expected. Even if the team name wasn't literally her name, she was the one to organize their attempted rescue of the weakened Naruto. It's obvious she'd be Professor Ozpin's first choice to lead them for the next four years.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang gushes, wrapping her sister in a hug. Weiss's gaze snaps to the headmaster and back to the younger girl, disbelief and denial clear in her eyes.

' _Well, it should have been obvious,'_ Blake muses.

They make their way off the stage, Blake watching the fuming heiress out the corner of her eye.

Really, it isn't fair to judge her without giving her a chance first. After all, prejudice is prejudice, regardless of whether it stems from a person's physical attributes or their biological parents. Even so, the faunus can't help but feel a sense of unease around the Schnee. It is akin to treading into a minefield, knowing the slightest mistake could set something off.

A memory from earlier this morning drifts to the forefront of her mind. An overheard conversation, one she only picked up thanks to her faunus heritage. Her team leader had wanted to pair up with Naruto and the whiskered boy had none too gently rejected her.

It would have been nice, Blake muses. She'd have someone she wouldn't have to hide her heritage from on her team. Naruto himself seems to already be rather close to the sisters, despite them having only met the day before.

What would their team name have even been? Off the top of her head, she can't think of any word for red with an 'N', a 'B' and a 'Y'. Though, maybe they could've used his last name. She knows some people from Shoshima only use their given name with close friends and use their family name with everyone else. So perhaps they could have used the first letter from Naruto's last name, which is…

Blake blinks.

What is Naruto's last name, anyway?

"And last but not least, Naruto Uzumaki."

See? R-U-B-Y. It would have been perf-.

…

'Uzumaki'?

As in… the Ghost of the Spiral City, 'Uzumaki'? The same 'Uzumaki' who had walked into a White Fang encampment three years ago and caused most of their forces to pass out in fear, whose very presence made her see visions of her own bloody and gruesome death? _**That '**_ Uzumaki'?

The Uzumaki better known to the world over as the White-Faced, Gold-Tailed, Demon Fox?

"… Naruto Uzumaki."

Professor Ozpin's voice echoes out again, as if to inform her that no, she had not heard wrong and that the 'boy' she met only yesterday does in fact share the same name as the infamous monster feared the world over. That… that…

"He _didn't_ ," Weiss hisses in disbelief.

Ruby looks around with a confused expression. "… Naruto?"

Professor Ozpin lets his head drop with a sigh. To his die, Professor Goodwitch's expression sours into a promise of pain and suffering for he who would dare to be so insolent as to not even bother showing up at a ceremony celebrating his achievements.

The sudden change in mood is enough for Blake to snap herself out of her impromptu panic attack. And when she does, she very nearly buries her face in her palm.

How could she be so stupid?

Family names are, of course, shared among family. And with how common place clans are in the Great Villages of Shoshima, it wouldn't be strange for ten, or twenty, or even hundreds of people to share the same family name. Naruto had told her he was from Konohagakure, the same place rumored to be the origin of the Demon Fox. It is no wonder he was uncomfortable talking about it.

He probably didn't want her to jump to the exact conclusion she just had.

And she was _just_ thinking about how she shouldn't be judging someone based on their family.

"Naruto… Uzum-"

" _Dyyynamiiiic~ ENTR- AH TOO DYNAMIC-!"_

Another voice interrupts the headmaster, this one in the form of a scream coming from above and outside the building. A blur of white crashes through the ceiling, plummeting into the stage and kicking up a great cloud of dust.

The dust clears to reveal a body planted waist-deep in the stage, their sandaled feet twitching in the air.

"Ah, Naruto. How nice of you to join us."

This time, Blake does facepalm.

" _MMM-MMMMMM! MMM! MMMMMMM!"_

An angry yelling comes from the body, his voice muffled beneath a good foot and a half of stone. Yang flips back her hair with an amused look and makes her way onto the stage.

"Um, Professor Goodwitch? He… says you never told him when the assembly was supposed to be," Ruby translates in a hesitant tone. "And, uh, he called you a bad word."

Her older sister grabs the planted boy by the legs. "Hup-!" With one good yank, Yang pulls him from the stage.

"Ah, thanks."

"Yup."

Back on his feet, Naruto pats the dust off a white cloak lazily draped over his right shoulder. A simple and understandable solution to the eyesore that is his missing limb.

"I sent you a message fifteen minutes ago," Professor Goodwitch scowls at the younger boy.

"Yeah! FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO! _REAL_ helpful after I spent the _last hour_ on a bullhead back to Vale! I swear this better not become a regular thing with you!"

Yang steps off the stage. Professor Goodwitch goes to Naruto's side. And Blake perks a brow.

"Wonder what he was doing in Vale?" Yang muses.

"I'm more curious about how he made it here from Vale in fifteen minutes…" Blake murmurs.

Without looking winded in the slightest… when only a few hours ago he looked to be on the brink of death…

"Naruto Uzumaki. You retrieved the white pawn piece."

… Then again, assuming they _are_ from the same clan, it only stands to reason Naruto's power would be comparable to that of his relative(?). Familial semblances _are_ fairly common in the lands of the Elementals. Even then, the strength he had shown in the forest was entirely different from that of the Demon Fox, in both scale and magnitude.

The Demon Fox used a black scythe of metal and wood, not wide-scale, wind-element ninjutsu. The Demon Fox could have slaughtered the monster that attacked them in the forest.

"You displayed a strength and bravery far beyond that of your peers, sacrificing your body and your position at this school for the safety of your friends.

The displays blink out and switch, images of Naruto's furious battle against the Elder Wendigo playing across the screens.

Him saving Ruby at the cost of his arm.

Trees and earth being smashed to splinters, the black giant chasing the white-haired boy across the forest.

The sphere of spiraling light engulfing the shadow and eclipsing the horizon.

Awe and disbelief sweep through the crowd. Team RWBY watches the images with doubt. With envy and a begrudged respect. With uncertain fear. And with admiration and wonder.

Professor Goodwitch closes her eyes. Naruto's lips press into a thin, flat line, his gaze darkening.

"In light of your performance in the Emerald Forest, we here at Beacon Academy believe it would be a waste of your potential to assign you to a traditional team. As such, you will be apprenticing directly under our very own Professor Goodwitch for your time here at Beacon."

"… I swear if the witch eats me, I'm coming back for the other eye."

"Silence, child. Do not make a scene."

"Bit late for that, don't you think?"

Just like when Professor Ozpin had revealed to them Naruto's team assignment at the cliffs, a silence fills the room at first. Then, murmurs start to filter through the auditorium.

Some disbelief. A bit of jealousy, both of the 'he's so lucky to be working with a seasoned huntress' and of the 'he's so lucky to get the hot teacher as his partner' variety. To her pleasant surprise, the reception of the general crowd seems to be a combination of excitement to see the potential of this young and unknown prodigy, a slight bit of envy and amusement that the two appear to already hate each other.

Little to no comments about the boy being a faunus or potentially being a faunus. There are a few comments sprinkled here and there, both negative _and_ positive(there are more than a few mentions of his whisker marks being 'cute'), but the consensus seems to be mostly indifference.

She recalls their conversation from yesterday and a small smile makes its way onto her lips.

Maybe these next four years won't be so bad after all.

Blake turns her focus back onto the stage. And the more she thinks about it, the more ridiculous it gets.

How could Naruto be the Demon Fox? The thought of a psychopath like that fighting to protect them, sacrificing themselves to give them a chance to escape, is ridiculous.

Besides, there's also the fact of how much he struggled against the Elder Wendigo.

It is not to discount or discredit the younger boy. The Elder Wendigo was a creature straight out of a nightmare. But, after all… there's no way someone who fought _Adam_ to a standstill at the age of _twelve-_

"From this day forward, the two of you will work together as Team GN(GwyNn)."

-who was responsible for the deaths of not one but _two_ reigning Kage-

"… Gwynn?"

"It is a name that means 'white' or 'blessed'."

 _-_ the monster who massacred the entirety of the Atlassian Military's 1st Battalion and Special Forces Division down to a lone survivor and burned the Great Village Hidden in the Leaves to the ground in a single night-

"Huh. Really thought with the whole 'Red' and 'Blue' thing, he was just going to go with 'GreeN'."

-would have had any trouble defeating a grimm of that caliber on their own.

Right?

…

* * *

"You know, on the one hand, I did promise myself I'd rip off the first dick Ruby saw before she turned sixteen. On the other, it sounds like she spent a good five minutes staring at your butt before you turned around, so…"

"Okay, you know what? I just wanted to check on you, see how you were doing, make sure you were okay, but never mind and- w-wait, _what_?! _Five minutes_?! Did she seriously say that?"

"Joking… it was probably like a good three or two."

"-!"

She smiles at the look of blank shock over his face. Hand on her hip, Yang Xaio Long beholds the ruins of the building where she and the whiskered boy fought only a day before.

The sun has begun to dip below the horizon. Remnant's shattered moon is just visible in the distance. Her sister's partner had very quickly stormed off after the ceremony. Blake had gone back to their room to nap. And so, as the day winds down to a close, Yang finds herself alone with the boy who her little sister has spent most of the past few hours trying to find.

It was a gut feeling. Somehow, she knew if she came here, she'd find him or he'd find her. One way or another.

"Apparently, the place we're staying at is actually one of the extra rooms at the sophomore dorms."

"Really?"

"Yup. I hear they're a lot nicer than these freshmen dorms are… well, were. Before we got to it."

They share a chuckle.

"Ah man," Naruto lets out a sigh. "It was only yesterday but it feels like it's been way too long."

"It really does…"

"So, you good?"

It feels like she took a sledgehammer to the gut. Multiple times. "Great. You?"

"Yeah." He rubs at his eye. His scarred eye. "Always."

"Just going to ignore the arm?"

"Healing factor. 'Sides, I'm pretty sure I can still kick your ass, arm or no arm."

"Watch yourself, whiskers. I ain't above beating up a cripple."

Naruto lets out a sound somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle. Yang glances over at the empty sleeve to his right.

"How's that even work, anyway? Just going to pop out a new arm or are you going to have a little, baby arm that grows up super-fast?"

Naruto rolls up the sleeve to show her the misty shadows repairing his arm. "Bit of both."

"Whoa. Freaky."

"… It is, isn't it?"

A smile cuts across his cheeks as the words leave his mouth. It is a wrong smile. A smile that looks entirely out of place on the face of a boy the same age as her little sister. A smile more suited for someone like her father or uncle.

"Either way, I'm glad to hear it," Yang steps around him. She pulls the sleeve back down to get rid of that terrible smile and puts her hands on his shoulders, straightening her back, popping her chest forward to give her boobs the slightest jiggle.

It works like a charm. His expression goes blank, his eye goes wide and his gaze drops to somewhere in her cleavage.

"Thank you."

"Uh… yeah, er… no problem..." a blink. He looks up at her. "Wait, what'd I do?"

"Oh, you know, just saved my little sister's life like three times. No biggie."

"Three times?" Naruto perks a brow. "Where'd you get three from? I guess if you count last night and when I cushioned her fall, but she'd probably have been fine on her own. Probably."

"We'll count it as one," Yang gives him an inviting smile with half-lidded eyes. She takes another step forward and rests her forearms on his shoulders. "Plus, when you lost your arm…"

"It's fine," He glances to the side and gives the empty sleeve a flap. "I can regenerate an arm. I doubt wolfie can regenerate a… everything."

She shoves the gruesome image out of her head before it can appear. Another step. "And for what you did at the end, there…"

"… at the end?" he glances up at her. Unsure. For a moment looking like an actual fifteen-year old boy instead of the unstoppable hurricane of wind and gold she had seen in the forest.

"That 'condition' Professor Ozpin gave you for coming to Beacon," she makes sure to keep her voice as kind and accepting as possible. Nothing to suggest any sort of anger or disapproval. "It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with how you met Junior, would it?"

Bingo. He looks away. Shifts. His hand presses against his stomach. "… It does."

"I'm not angry or anything, I just wanted to know, that's all."

"I'm sorry," he winces. "I know I shouldn't have let things get so out of control, but I just-"

"Don't apologize."

It makes enough sense.

Why he held back until the very last second. Why Ozpin would have imposed that sort of condition on him in the first place.

What sort of person Junior, an information broker who deals in the underground, would be 'sometimes marginally useful to'.

The kind of person who should have never had a chance to get into a school like this, short of a chance run-in with the headmaster himself. Who would be assigned to the strongest person at this school as a means of potentially keeping them in check.

Someone with everything to gain and nothing to lose by leaving them all to die at the claws of the freak of nature that attacked them in the forest.

But he didn't. So, she won't hold it against him.

"Prof… Ozpin and the teachers shouldn't have put you in that situation to begin with. It's not your fault, so quit blaming yourself."

Yang looks down at his missing arm with a concerned smile. "Besides, you're the one who came out of it the worst out of all of us."

Naruto gives the empty sleeve another flap. "Yeah, well, like I said. Healing factor."

"Still, you- ack!"

A finger pokes her side. She jolts, her entire body aching like a sore muscle. Yang flinches, shoots the owner of the finger a glare and receives only a flat stare in response.

"You on the other hand…" his nonchalant expression shifts to one of concern. "You sure you're okay? It'll take a bit because my hand's still messed up, but I can always heal you like I did yesterday. If you really need it."

"But you'd have to turn off your healing factor in the meantime, right? Trust me, compared to you, I'm sure I'm _great_."

"Yeah, 'compared to me' is generally a terrible metric to be comparing to. Most people can't grow arms like fingernails, you know."

"I'm fine. Trust me, I'm fine. Really."

"I'll poke you again," he says, raising his finger. Menacingly.

"You sure there isn't _something else_ you'd rather poke me with?" Yang asks with a wiggle of her brow.

He blinks at her. His brow furrows, a cute and stupid sort of look on his whiskered cheeks. "What?"

"Well~," She takes another step. The distance between them becomes mere inches. Again, his gaze drops like a rock into the valley between her breasts. "If it weren't for you, I'd be out a little sister… if it weren't for you, we'd have all died. I owe you for that. And for the arm."

Her hands slide over his shoulders, fingers coming to rest around his biceps.

"So, I was thinking… how should I repay you?" she asks in a floaty hum with a smile that says she knows full well how she intends to.

"I mean, you can just buy me some ramen or something…"

The moment dies. Horrifically. Brutally. Without a single hope for revival. A sigh. Yang lets her head drop with something between a snort and a chuckle, her ego only the slightest bit bruised by the boy knowingly, or even unknowingly, choosing a bowl of noodles over her.

"You know I was going to sleep with you, right?" she asks, half wondering if that'll fly over his head as well.

It doesn't. "Really?! Wait, no, I want that!"

"Nope. Too late. Ramen it is."

His disappointment lasts for all of a second before he shrugs with a lazy 'meh'.

It doesn't bug her. It really doesn't. He's _basically_ the same age as Ruby, so it's no different than how her own adorable, little sister would probably do just about anything for a plate of cookies. A bit young but not exactly out of her strike-zone, immature and pure in his own kind of fucked up way, she'd be lying if she said it wasn't part of his charm.

Yeah. It was just a joke anyway. Better something than nothing, after all. If she was really trying, there's no way he'd turn her own. So, it doesn't bug her.

Really.

Yang shifts to wrap an arm around Naruto's shoulders, pulling him into a one-armed hug, taking her phone with the other. "Come on, the bullheads are still going to be running for a few hours. I can buy you a bowl. Just let me call Rubes, I don't think she's ate yet, either."

There is a tiny jolt. She'd probably not have noticed if not him being half pressed against her. He looks to the side and, again, his hand goes to his stomach. "That's…"

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, no, it's just…" he scratches his cheeks. "I… don't know if that's a good idea."

"Come on," Yang gives him a small shake and a smile. "You really that embarrassed she saw your 'little-ruto'?"

"Psh, no," his tone is dismissive, but there is a definite tinge of red to his whiskered cheeks. He rubs at the blush, as if trying to hide or wipe it away. "If you haven't noticed, things just have a tendency of spiraling way out of control whenever I'm in her immediate proximity."

He slips out from under her arm and flaps around his empty sleeve. "So, that's why I'd rather wait for my arm to grow back before we end up having to fight some, shady, criminal organization because they want to steal her 'sweetheart' or her weapon or whatever she calls wants to call it."

"You… are not wrong," Yang admits with a sheepish chuckle.

Between their little midnight excursion the day before and the events of the initiation, even she can't deny that things have a tendency of going horrifically wrong whenever the two are around one another…

"So, if you don't mind, I'm going to go keep avoiding your sister before I lose my right leg, too," he deadpans. "As far as missing arms and legs go, I try to keep it to one limb at a time."

"I'll let her know she's in the doghouse till the arm comes back."

He lets out a chuckle and a slight smile. A good smile. Not like the one before. "By the way, I sent you that picture."

"Oh, nice."

"Yeah, if you need anything, just send me a message. I'll be around. Later."

With that, the whiskered boy vanishes into a whirlwind of golden embers. Yang rubs the back of her neck, watching the motes of light fade away with an exasperated smile.

"Haa… what am I going to do with you?"

…

* * *

"Mmm… so everyone is okay with saving the redecorating for tomorrow?"

"""Yup."""

With a chorus of agreements, Team RWBY comes to its first, unanimous decision. Namely, that of leaving the task of organizing their room to tomorrow's Team RWBY in favor of getting some early shut-eye.

Dressed in her Beowolf and rose petal themed pajamas, Ruby collapses into her bed with a sigh.

Okay. Day one. Exploded. Literally exploded and almost blew both her and her future partner off the side of the cliff. Not good. Made two new friends. Good. Actually send her and one of said new friends flying off the cliff. Not so good.

Day two. Attacked by what is probably the scariest grimm she has _ever_ seen. Almost die. Twice. Find out that 'friend' is actually one of the most dangerous and infamous criminals of their time. Get named leader of her team.

Yayyy….

She really, really, _really_ hopes third time's the charm…

…

In the end, she didn't even see him again after the ceremony.

Naruto… is the Demon Fox.

Naruto is the Demon Fox.

Naruto is the Demon Fox.

No matter how many times she says it to herself, something about the statement just feels… wrong. She can't put her finger on why. It makes sense. Professor Ozpin _would_ want to get someone like that off the street by any means necessary. And instead of sending teams after teams of huntsmen after him, huntsmen he'd just beat like he beat Professor Goodwitch, huntresses who probably wouldn't go home to their children, why not just recruit him? Send him after the grimm instead of his fellow man.

It makes enough sense. It makes perfect sense.

So why does thinking about it make her so uneasy?

That's why she wanted to go shopping for school supplies. Why she wanted to find him. To talk to him. To figure out which 'Naruto' she is supposed to believe in.

The one she's heard about on the news for the past six years? The one she met that night in Vale?

The one she thought was her friend?

Which ones are the mask? The lie?

With another sigh, Ruby buries herself under her covers and pulls out her scroll.

What was the full name again… the White… something, Gold… something, Demon Fox? Such a long name… well, that should be close enough, anyway.

The White-Gold Demon Fox.

Links and headlines from the incident in Vale fill the screen. And Ruby furrows her brow as one in particular catches her eye.

' _The robbery… led by the Demon Fox?'_

That's weird. Wasn't he just working for-

Whoosh. The blankets are pulled away and she closes the scroll on reflex. Tossing the blanket to the side, Yang gives her a smile.

"Hi there, little sister! You lookin at-" a pause. Her big sister throws a quick glance at the other two residents of the room. "What'cha lookin at?"

"Oh, you know," Ruby sits up and shifts her scroll behind her. "Just, stuff, weapons, that sort of thing. You need something?"

Yang sits on the bed next to her. "Not really. Just wanted to check on you, see how you're doin."

"I'm good. Yeah, my head was hurting a bit earlier, but when my aura re-stabilized it went away, so I'm fine."

"Glad to hear it," she smiles in relief. "By the way, I ran into whiskers earlier."

"Really?"

"Yup. Says he's going to lay low till his arm's back. Something about the way things always tend to go horribly wrong whenever you two are in the immediate proximity?"

"They really do…" Ruby weakly chuckles.

"Sooo~, did something happen? Other than you getting an eyeful, I mean."

Ruby blushes and looks away. "N-no, not really…"

She did it. She kind of wishes she hadn't. But after revelation of the truth behind Naruto's presence at Beacon, she had to tell Yang _something_ to explain why she was so out of it.

In retrospect, telling her older sister she'd walked in on a boy her age in the shower and spent a good few minutes admi _-wondering_ h-how in the world he got there probably wasn't the best idea.

"You sure nothing happened?" Yang asks.

"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing like that. I just wasn't, uh… _expecting it_ , I guess…"

An understatement to be sure, but not technically a lie.

"Alright," Yang pats her on the shoulder and stands up. "Well, make sure you get some sleep Ms. Leader. You've got a big day ahead of you!"

Ruby lets out a nervous chuckle. "Hopefully not as big as today."

"Fingers crossed!"

* * *

Night casts a blanket of shadow over the Emerald Forest. The faint light of the broken moon and stars are the only luminescence to penetrate the shroud of darkness that swallows the forest, the sounds of chirping insects and lumbering footsteps and rustling leaves echoing in the night.

He moves through the forest without a sound.

The white cloth over his shoulder morphs into a haori. The crimson spiral on its back ignites, blooming into an orange lily painted in ash. A mask of white bone appears over his face, a single, lone-blue eye peeking out from under the likeness of a three-eyed fox.

Blue bleeds into red. White fades to black. Crimson lights pierce the darkness and the masked boy never breaks his stride, making his way to the heart of the forest.

A shape forms out of the darkness engulfing the forest. First one, then two. Three, then four. Five. Six. Eight. Twelve. Sixteen. They swarm around the boy and he at last comes to a stop, the surrounding forest bathed in a cloak of red.

One emerges from the rest of the pack. It is a shadow the size of a lion in the shape of a fox, its ears long and pointed almost like a bunny's, its tail just under half the length of its entire body.

It is a _**Kitsune**_ **.** A grimm native to the Land of Fire.

The Kitsune approaches the masked boy. And like an overgrown cat, the grimm nuzzles against his hand, the creature's blackened mask brushing against his palm.

"So, its way all the way over here, huh?"

The masked boy continues on his path. The kitsune follows alongside him. Movement thunders through the forest as the grimm move to their master's will, racing through the forest, cornering their chosen prey.

Soon enough he comes upon it. Gasping, panting, wheezing, the creature looks nothing like the mountain of muscle and terror that chased them through the forest. The Elder Wendigo releases a feeble growl, its body emaciated and falling apart, faint crimson lights glaring at him from behind a pale white mask.

"… Uwaaah, how miserable." the masked boy bemoans. "Looking at you now, even I can't help but feel bad for you."

"… _ **.."**_

His eyes go to the creature's mask. White with red and yellow markings and not a smudge of black to be found. "… What a shame. Here, I was hoping to finally get some answers. Oh well."

"If nothing else, I can at least give you this," he raises his hand. "And for what it's worth, I'm going to enjoy it about as much as you."

The arm falls. And the shadows move.

"Good night, puppet-chan."

A blur tackles the weakened giant, sending it to the ground. As one, the pack of Kitsune descends on the dying Wendigo like a swarm of locusts. Flesh parts like cotton candy. Bones break like glass. Cracking and snapping, ripping and tearing, gallons of black blood spray onto the surrounding plants and trees.

The gruesome feast lasts for maybe a minute. The pack disperses, the only traces of the Wendigo's existence a splatter of black crimson covering the forest floor, a broken katana-handle and a few tufts of fur strewn about the bloody ruin already fading back into formless smoke.

He walks over, careful not to step in any pools of black mud. Pulling up his haori as not to get any blood on it, he picks up the broken katana-handle. The blade and crossguard promptly fall to pieces, leaving him holding only a handle with a length of torn ribbon attached to the pummel.

"… Whelp, better than nothing," he shrugs, tucking the handle into his pocket.

Silence returns to the forest. And the masked boy slips away into the darkness without another sound.

* * *

 **AN: Whew. And done. I'm going to be reading back through the whole fic and writing a reflection whenever I have the time. So probably after my finals in two weeks. I'd give an ETA for when I'll have the next arc ready, but it's fairly up in the air. If nothing else, I'm going to try to write at least 1.5k words a day while I'm on winter break, and I'll be sure to update my profile 'progress meter' more regularly.**

 **For this chapter… well, just anything. Thoughts from the chapter, thoughts from the arc, any advice you want to give me going into the next one, any and all feedback is appreciated.**

 **Until next time.**


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